
Class __Gr Q>7 Qi 

Book / S % 4 . 

.Gr9 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/rescueofgreelyOOschl 



/ 




tJi ^^^^^^1 



FREDERICKS. 
BRAINARD. 



CONNELL. BIEDERBECK. 

LIEUT. GREELY. 



THE SURVIVORS OV BOARD THE THETIS AT DISKO. 



PREFACE. 



The history of the rescue of Greely and the other surviv- 
ors of his party would hardly be complete without some 
account of the original expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, and 
of the two voyages undertaken for its relief before it left 
Discovery Harbor. In giving this account, it has been the 
aim of the writers to describe the events simply as they oc- 
curred, and studiously to avoid all criticism of those who 
took part in them. The facts are to be found for the most 
part in the voluminous testimony taken before the Court of 
Inquiry, and in the reports and official correspondence an- 
nexed to the proceedings of the Court. 

The history of the Circumpolar Stations is chiefly derived 
from the Mittheilungen published from time to time by the 
International Polar Commission. 

The illustrations in the book are from photographs taken 
during the voyage of the Relief Expedition of 1884, the neg- 
atives having been further treated by Mr. M. P. Rice, of 
Wasliington, before impressions were made. 

The writers desire to express their obligations for the as- 
sistance given them by various officers of the Relief Squad- 
ron, in the preparation of the latter part of the work. 

(iii) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
The Gateway of the Polar Sea, 



CHAPTER II. 
The Circumpolar Stations, 11 

CHAPTER III. 
The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, . . . .20 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Relief Expedition of 1882 : The Neptune, . . 35 

CHAPTER V. 
The Relief Expedition of 1883 : The Proteus, . . 47 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus, . . 73 

CHAPTER VII. 
What was to be done for Creely ? 95 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Preparations for the Relief Expedition of 1884, . 113 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Departure of the Relief Squadron, . . . 139 

(v) 



vi Contents. 

CHAPTER X. 
Melville Bay, 170 

CHAPTER XL 
Cape York to Littleton Island, 19G 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Rescue, .211 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Cape Sabine to Disko, 23S 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Return Home, 2G6 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Survivors on Board the Thetis at Disko, Frontispiece. 
Lifeboat Cove and Littleton Island, To face page 76 

Berg near Upernivik, 165 

Belief Ships and Whalers Moored to the Floe, . 172 
The Thetis Nipped off Horse Head, . . . .175 
The As c tic Waiting for a Lead near the Duck 

Islands, 187 

Bow of the Thetis in the Ice off Cape York, . . 196 
The Thetis Waiting for a Lead at Conical Eock, . 198 

The Bear in the Pack, 208 

Greely's Cairn on Stalknecht Island, .... 213 

The Tent at Camp Clay, 229 

The Graves, . . .232 

Conical Bock, with Cairn on the Summit, . . . 246 
Passing an Iceberg off the Waigat, .... 260 



LIST OF MAPS. 

{The maps are placed at the end of the book.) 

Smith Sound, showing Cape Sabine and Littleton Island. 
Track Chart of the Greely Eelief Expedition of 1884. 

(In three sections.) 
Official Chart of the Eegion from Baffin Bay to Lincoln 

Sea. 

(vii) 



THE 

Rescue of Greely. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GATEWAY OE THE POLAE SEA. 

Although every student of Arctic exploration is familiar 
with the series of long, narrow channels that separate the 
coast of Greenland from the labyrinth of straits and islands 
north of the American Continent, it may be well to give 
once more a sketch of their characteristic features, upon 
which so much depended in the events of which this book 
recites the story. 

Of the three entrances to the Polar Ocean, by Behring 
Strait, by the North Atlantic, and by Baffin Bay, the last 
has aroused by far the greatest interest, and has been the 
scene of the most numerous and successful expeditions, espe- 
cially of American explorers. For a long time after the 
voyage of Baffin in 1616, little was known or thought of 
it. Even in this century, the absorbing problem of Arctic 
navigators was the discovery, not of the Pole, but of the 
Northwest Passage, and the voyage of Sir John Franklin in 
1845 with this object, together with the innumerable expe- 
ditions to ascertain his fate, resulted in mapping out with 
fullness and comparative accuracy the islands of the North 



2 Tlie Rescue of Greely. 

American archipelago. In 1852, however, Captain Ingle- 
Held, of the Royal Navy, also engaged in the Franklin search, 
visited Smith Sound. After him came the second Grinnell 
Expedition under Dr. Kane in 1853, the expedition of Dr. 
Hayes in 1860, that of Hall in the Polaris in 1871, and 
that of Nares in the Alert and Discovery in 1875 and 1876, 
each going beyond its predecessor and each contributing its 
important additions to the geographical knowledge of the 
region. Last of all has set out and returned the Lady Frank- 
lin Bay ExjDedition, which has surpassed the furthest north- 
ern limit of the Alert and Discovery, placing its 83° 24. 5', 
the northern latitude of Lockwood, beside the 83° 20' 26" 
of Markham, and adding by actual discovery and survey a 
number of miles to the previously known geographical ex- 
tent of the North Greenland shores. 

Due north from St. John's, Newfoundland, at a distance 
of 1,300 miles, lies the little settlement of Lievely, on the 
island of Disko. It is the principal one among the northern 
group of Danish trading posts on the west coast of Green- 
land, and its sheltered harbor, called Godhavn, makes it a 
convenient and usual point of departure for all expeditions 
making for Smith Sound and the waters beyond. Its im- 
portance is increased by the neighborhood of the coal mines 
at the Kudliscet cliffs, which lie on the shore of the "Waigat, 
a long strait separating Disko Island from the mainlau 1. 

From Godhavn to Upernivik the way lies either through 
the Waigat, or around the western shore of the island, across 
the broad estuary known as the Omenak Fiord, and past the 
little village of Proven. Upernivik lies on an island forty 
miles beyond Proven. Its harbor is an open roadstead, ex- 
posed to gales from the south and west, with no good holding 



The Gateway of the Polar Sea. 3 

ground, and subject to the inroads of drifting icebergs, which 
are kept in constant motion by the strong winds and currents, 
and make the anchorage a difficult and dangerous one for 
ships. 

The coast beyond Upernivik as far as the Duck Islands is 
as ugly a bit of navigation as one would care to find. The 
shore is bold and cut up into ribbons by numbers of bays and 
estuaries, while the waters are filled with little islands whose 
position is imperfectly ascertained, and with countless sub- 
merged rocks and shoals and hidden dangers absolutely un- 
known and uncharted. The position of Tassuisak even, the 
northernmost of the Danish settlements — a little cluster of 
huts in a deep bay, midway between Upernivik and the 
Duck Islands — is given on the Admiralty charts as " approx- 
imate." The points marked definitely on the charts are as 
likely to be wrong as right, so hurriedly and imperfectly has 
the coast been surveyed ; most of the vessels that have vis- 
ited the region having had all that they could do to get through 
or past the spot, in time to accomplish more important work 
at points beyond. 

"West of the Greenland coast lies the great expanse of Baf- 
fin Bay. As far as Disko, and in the midsummer season 
even as far as Upernivik, navigation is usually attended with 
little danger, but as soon as a vessel starts across, from which- 
ever point she sets out, her difficulties begin. One hundred 
and fifty miles north of Upernivik the shore turns sharply to 
the westward, following this course another one hundred and 
fifty miles to Cape Dudley Digges, where it turns again to 
the north. The bight thus formed is Melville Bay. A few 
miles east of Cape Dudley Digges is Cape York, and it is to 
this point that all ships crossing Melville Bay are directed. 



4 The Rescue of Greely. 

The run across is justly dreaded by Arctic navigators. Even 
the whalers who go there every summer are more anxious 
about Melville Bay than any other point. There are two 
ways of getting across — the Northern Passage following the 
curve of the coast, and the Middle Passage in a direct line 
across the Bay. Early in the season the first only is practi- 
cable. At that time the whole sheet of water is filled with 
the " middle pack " — a vast field of ice which represents the 
accumulations of years firmly held together by the additions 
of the winter before. The pack is generally out of the in- 
fluence of the swiftest current passing south from Smith 
Sound to Davis Strait, but drifts with the winds and currents 
back and forth across Melville Bay. Sometimes it leaves a. 
stretch of open water, sometimes again it closes up against 
the land ice, which forms a belt along the coast varying in 
width from one hundred yards to fifteen or twenty miles, as 
solid and impenetrable as terra firma. By the middle of July 
or the first of August the pack is generally either broken up 
into floes or has drifted to the southward and westward into 
Baffin Bay, so that a passage may then be made with care di- 
rectly across to Cape York. Early in the season, however, a 
ship must take the Northern Passage, skirting the land ice 
and following the seam of water which lies between it and 
the pack, and defines the edge of both more or less distinctly, 
— generally, however, less rather than more, especially when 
a southerly wind drives the pack on the land ice, until the 
two become glued together in what seems for the time a 
homogeneous mass. 

Whichever passage is taken there is always a possibility of 
encountering the pack, although, from the number of ves- 
sels that have crossed in recent years in August or late 



The Gateway of the Polar Sea. 5 

in July, the run over at this season would seem to be com- 
paratively easy for a cautious navigator. Occasionally, how- 
ever, the middle pack is caught in the current and drifts 
away hundreds of miles to the southward. The Fox, the 
last of the Franklin search vessels, commanded by Captain 
McClintock, in August, 1857, could not find any middle pas- 
sage, and though well to the northward, was beset in the 
middle pack, and was unable to extricate herself until the 
following April. During these eight months she drifted 
twelve hundred miles in the ice to a point nearly opposite 
Cape Farewell, the southern extremity of Greenland. 

After rounding Cape York, the navigator enters a sheet 
of water, of large extent and triangular in outline, be- 
tween the coasts of Greenland and Ellesmere Land. The 
shores gradually approach until at the northern apex of the 
triangle they are only twenty miles or so apart. At this 
point Cape Alexander on the Greenland coast, and Cape 
Isabella in Ellesmere Land, — the "Northern Pillars of 
Hercules," as they were well called by Dr. Bessels, — mark 
the entrance to Smith Sound, which gives access to the diffi- 
cult waters beyond. No name has been affixed to the trian- 
gular body of water above Cape York, but it will be called 
for convenience lower Smith Sound. 

It is here that vessels penetrating or skirting the ice of 
Melville Bay find the " North Water," — a name given by 
the whalers to the water-space left open by the progress 
southward of the winter pack. It is generally met not long 
after passing the promontory of which Cape York and Cape 
Dudley Digges are the principal points. But it may be 
found much lower down ; and, on the other hand, there are 
seasons in which, until late at least, it hardly seems to exist 



6 The Rescue of Greely. 

at all. The testimony of the explorers agrees only in the 
utter variety and uncertainty of the ice-movements, and the 
impossibility of fastening upon any general law to govern 
them, and of predicting their character and extent, even on 
the spot from clay to day. McClintock says that nothing is 
more uncertain than ice-navigation, and that one can only 
calculate upon the chances ; while Sir Allen Toung, who 
commanded the Pandora in 1876, gives as his opinion : 
" All projects connected with Arctic navigation must neces- 
sarily be very speculative, and it is out of all human fore- 
sight to anticipate events in those regions." It appears to 
be a fact that navigation is easier in July and early in 
August than it is before and after that period ; but beyond 
this no general conclusion can be stated, and no better 
evidence of this is to be found than in the various voyages 
which had their immediate or proximate origin in the ex- 
pedition to Lady Franklin Bay. 

The course of vessels after leaving Cape York depends 
somewhat on the state of the ice, but it generally deviates 
little from the line of the eastern shore. " Passing by Conical 
Rock, an isolated peak which forms a conspicuous land- 
mark, the coast trends to the northward to Cape Dudley 
Digges and on to Cape Athol. Beyond Cape Athol lies 
Saunders Island, at the entrance to Wolstenholme Sound, 
which, like most of these inlets, forms the embouchure of a 
glacier-river. The whole interior is covered by ice, and the 
glaciers pressing down the slopes between headlands on the 
coast, discharge great masses of ice, which break off and 
drift away as icebergs. Every nook and corner along the 
shore north of Cape York sends out its crop of bergs, many 
of which, passing southward with the current, are carried 



The Gateway of the Polar Sea. 7 

out through Baffin Bay and Davis Strait to the ocean. Many 
of them ground about Cape York, and may remain there 
for months ; but the larger number drift hither and thither, in 
and about the waters where they were launched, a constant 
source of anxiety and danger to navigators. 

In a branch of "Wolstenholme Sound, called North Star Bay, 
is an Eskimo village. There are several of these villages 
upon the Greenland shore, with a scanty population of Etah 
Eskimo, who remain through the winter, never crossing 
Melville Bay, but spreading along the coast to the north- 
ward in hunting and fishing parties during the summer, 
when the whole region abounds in game — seal, walrus, rein- 
deer, and birds. 

Eorty miles to the westward of Saunders Island lies a 
little group known as the Cary Islands. Lying well off from 
the shore, and generally accessible to ships, they are a favor- 
ite station with expeditions to this region, which almost 
always leave a record here on the way north. Being also 
comparatively inaccessible to the natives, who are always 
ready to plunder anything they can find, the islands are a 
good place for a cache, or depot of provisions. It was on 
the Southeast Cary Island that Captain Nares, in the English 
expedition of 1875, composed of the Alert and Discovery 
landed his first depot of 1,800 rations, which were still in 
1884 found, for the most part, in good condition. 

Beyond "Wolstenholme Sound and Saunders Island juts out 
the bold headland of Cape Parry. To the north the land 
again makes in, forming Inglefield Gulf, with three islands 
at its entrance — Herbert, Northumberland, and Hakluyt 
Island. The outermost, Hakluyt Island, which was the north- 
ern limit of Baffin's voyage, two centuries and a half ago, is 



8 Tlie Rescue of Greely. 

directly north of the Cary Islands, and is similarly used as a 
rendezvous, or as a place of communication. The three 
islands are separated by Whale Sound from Cape Parry on 
the south, and by Murchison Sound from Cape Robertson on 
the north. The promontory from which the latter projects 
extends far out to the westward, beyond the coast-line below, 
and forms the eastern shore of Smith Sound. 

This sound — or strait, as it would properly be called — is 
the central point of interest in the Greenland waters. Its 
shores have been the scene of many perilous adventures and 
narrow escapes. From Cape Alexander to Cairn Point, on 
the eastern side, and from Cape Isabella to Cape Sabine, on 
the west, every headland and bay recalls some incident in the 
history of the expeditions of the last thirty years. It was 
at Hartstene Bay, just north of Cape Alexander, that the re- 
lief expedition sent out under Hartstene, in 1855, to rescue 
Dr. Kane, found a harbor. A branch of Hartstene Bay 
forms Pandora Harbor, named for Sir Allen Young's ship, 
which twice went up in quest of news from the Alert and 
Discovery. A little further to the north is Foulke Fiord, 
where Dr. Hayes wintered in I860 and '61, in the schooner 
United States. Just beyond is Cape Ohlsen, marking the 
burial-place of one of Kane's men, for whom it was named. 
Making inwards from the Cape, the indentation of the shore 
forms Lifeboat Cove, the second winter quarters of the 
Polaris, and at its entrance, separated only by a strait half a 
mile wide, is Littleton Island. A few miles further north, 
at Cairn Point, the shore turns to the eastward, and Smith 
Sound opens into the wide expanse of Kane Sea. 

The opposite side of the Sound on the coast of Ellesmere 
Land is a dreary wilderness, never visited by the Eskimo, 



The Gateway of the Polar Sea. 9 

and only rarely by the bears and Arctic foxes. North of 
Cape Isabella, where Nares made a small cache, is a deep 
estuary called Baird Inlet. The northern point of the sound 
on this side is marked by Cape Sabine, on the extremity of 
what was supposed to be a peninsula, but which one of 
Greely's men discovered to be an island. Just south of the 
cape is Payer Harbor, lying between the shore and Brevoort 
Island. Stalknecht Island, a low and narrow strip of rock, 
lying to the west of Brevoort Island, was the place of Nares' 
third depot. Around the cape, on the northern shore, about 
four miles from the point, is a little cove. It is around this 
cove and the hill above it, that the interest of the present 
narrative centres ; for it was here that the stores were land- 
ed from the wreck of the Proteus, and here that Greely 
made his final camp, October 21, 18 S3. 

Beyond Smith Sound the Greenland shore trends away 
one hundred miles or more to the eastward, forming Kane 
Sea, whose shores were first outlined by Dr. Kane and his 
party of the second Grinnell expedition, during the two des- 
olate years passed at Rensselaer Bay. The sea forms a large 
oval basin, covered most of the time by a nearly impenetra- 
ble polar pack. Only four vessels have succeeded in crossing 
it, — the Polaris, the Alert and Discovery, and the Proteus 
on her wonderful voyage with Greely in 1881. On the 
western side of the basin the most prominent point is Cape 
Hawks, so often referred to in the plans for the relief expe- 
ditions, where a small cache had been made by Nares. His 
fifth and last depot was at Cape Collinson, fifty miles to the 
north. 

North of Kane Sea, the shores again converging, form 
Kennedy and Robeson Channels, the long, narrow strait lead- 



10 The Rescue of Greely. 

ing directly to the Pular Ocean, and separating Greenland 
from Grinnell Land. A little more than half way up is 
Lady Franklin Bay, where Greely fixed his station, and 
where he passed two years with his command. The site of 
the station was Discovery Harbor, on the north side of the 
Bay, where the Discovery had wintered in 1875-76. Above 
this point, on the shores of the Sea itself, the Alert had pass- 
ed the same winter, and a few miles away, at Thank God 
Harbor, the Polaris, under Hall, had made her station four 
years before. But these were all. Before these expeditions 
no one had entered the long, narrow passage, and since then, 
those who have attempted the journey have failed even to 
get beyond the ice-pack in Kane Sea. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CIRCUMPOLAR STATION'S. 

Of those whose names have been added during the last 
century to the roll of Arctic explorers and investigators, 
there are few to whom science must acknowledge a greater 
debt than to Karl "Weyprecht. As the commander of the 
Tegetthoff, in the Austro-Hungarian expedition of 1872, he 
discovered and named Franz Josef Land. But his most im- 
portant service consists in having first drawn up in a definite 
shape, and pushed to successful execution, the project of es- 
tablishing a series of co-operating stations in the higher lati- 
tudes to make simultaneous observations for a considerable 
time. 

It was on the 18th of September, 1875, at the meeting of 
the association of German naturalists and physicists at Gratz, 
that Lieutenant "Weyprecht first unfolded his plan. He 
pointed out that while the polar regions offered one of the 
most important fields for the investigation of natural phe- 
nomena, especially in reference to the physical condition of 
the earth, the costly expeditions that had gone there had 
done little more for physical research than to show what a 
wealth of untouched materials lay within the grasp of the in- 
telligent and systematic inquirer. He therefore proposed to 
leave the beaten track of Arctic exploration, and subordinate 
geographical discovery entirely to physical observation. As 
previous investigations had been largely ineffective from 

(11) 



12 The Rescue of Greely. 

their isolated character, his plan was to send a number of ex- 
peditions to remain for some time, and make contempora- 
neous observations, according to a prearranged programme. 

Although these views may have been held more or less by 
scientific men in advance of Weyprecht, to him alone 
belongs the credit of having drawn up a definite plan of 
action, and of securing its adoption. No single state could 
be expected to furnish either the means or the personnel for 
so many expeditions, and it was decided from the start to 
put the scheme on an international footing. A beginning 
was to be made by Austria-Hungary, but it was as a private 
enterprise, the expenses being borne by Weyprecht's friend, 
Count Wilczek, who had taken a lively interest in his pro- 
ject. These two prepared a programme of operations, which 
was submitted to the meteorological congress held at Rome 
in 1879. The congress received it favorably and recom- 
mended its adoption, but as the delegates had no authority to 
act, the international meteorological committee was instruct- 
ed to summon a special conference later to consider it. 

The first International Polar Conference met at Hamburg, 
October 1, 1879, with delegates from Austria-Hungary, 
Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Rus- 
sia, and Sweden. It organized as a permanent commission 
and decided that at least eight stations would be necessary to 
make the plan a success. The twelve months of observation 
were to be comprised between the autumn of 1881 and that 
of 1882. Dr. Neumayer, of Hamburg, was the first presi- 
dent of the committee, but was afterward succeeded by Pro- 
fessor Wild, of St. Petersburg. 

Active efforts were now made by the commission and its 
members to secure the co-operation of a sufficient number of 



The Circwnvpolar Stations. 13 

Governments, and a second Conference met at Bern in the 
following summer. The reports were encouraging, but not 
enough so to carry out the undertaking at the proposed time. 
Four States had agreed to take part — Austria-Hungary, Den- 
mark, Norway, and Russia. The Austrian station, still as a 
private undertaking, was to be fixed at Jan Mayen Island, off 
the east coast of Greenland, and was to be under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant von Wohlgemuth, of the Austrian navy. 
Denmark was to select Upernivik or Godthaab ; Norway 
named Bossekop, near Alten ; and Russia the Lena Delta. 
This was all that had been done, and the beginning of the 
work was postponed for a year, or until the summer of 1882. 

Early efforts had been made to secure the co-operation of the 
United States. Already in May, 1879, Weyprecht had writ- 
ten to General Myer, at that time the Chief Signal Officer 
of the army, urging that the Government should join in his 
new scheme of Arctic research, which was to be devoted to 
the investigation of magnetic and meteorological phenomena. 
He suggested that in completing the circle of circumpolar ob- 
serving stations the United States should establish their post 
at Point Barrow, on the coast of Alaska, northeast of Beh- 
ring Strait, where the English ship Plover had wintered in 
1852 and 1853. 

As the work was partly meteorological in character, it 
would naturally fall under the cognizance of the Weather 
Bureau, directed by the Chief Signal Officer of the army. 
The plan commended itself strongly to General Myer, and as 
it required no special legislation for the Office to establish a 
signal station anywhere within the limits of the United States, 
steps were taken in the course of the year to carry it out. 
Lieutenant Ray was ordered to command the expedition, which 



14 The Rescue of Greely. 

left San Francisco July 18, 1881, in the schooner Golden 
Fleece, and arrived September 8th at, the point where the 
station was finally established, a few miles from Point Bar- 
row. After landing the party and stores the vessel returned, 
to the United States. The dwelling-house and the observa- 
tories were at once put up, and by October the work was 
fairly in progress. It was steadily kept up until the end ; 
the series of hourly magnetic and meteorological observations 
being continued without interruption until the final abandon- 
ment of the station. Other valuable observations were taken, 
and exploring expeditions were sent into the interior. On 
the arrival of the relief vessel the records and instruments 
with the scientific collections were put on board and the ex- 
pedition embarked August 29, 1883, arriving safely at San 
Francisco in October. The work had been admirably done, 
and the results were accomplished without a mishap. 

Meanwhile a plan of different scope, but with some fea- 
tures in common with the other, had been conceived by 
Lieutenant Howgate, an army officer attached to the Signal 
Service, and had been actively urged by him for several 
years. It was known as the scheme of Polar Colonization, 
and everybody was familiar with it under that name. The 
plan consisted in establishing a colony at some suitable point 
as far north as possible, where it should remain for three 
years ; it being thought that during that time some occasion 
would arise presenting favorable conditions for reaching the 
North Pole. The failure of the Nares expedition to accom- 
plish this object in 1875-76 was partly attributed to the cold 
season and exceptional winds prevailing during that year 
which formed ice ridges across the hue of march and so ren- 
dered progress slow and difficult. The place selected as the 



The Circumsolar Stations. 15 

site of the proposed colony was Discovery Harbor, on the 
shore of Lady Franklin Bay, where the Discovery had win- 
tered in 1875-76. It was chosen because of its advanced po- 
sition in an important region and its vicinity to a coal-seam. 
During its three years' residence the colony would be able to 
choose a favorable time for effecting its primary object, the 
journey to the Pole. Besides this it would carry on a series 
of meteorological observations. 

As a result of Howgate's efforts, Congress passed the Act 
of May 1, 1880, authorizing the President to establish a sta- 
tion at or near Lady Franklin Bay, and to accept the Gul- 
nare, a vessel owned by Howgate, for the use of the expedi- 
tion. First Lieutenant A. W. Greely, of the Fifth Cavalry, 
was assigned to the command, and Doctor Octave Pavy was 
engaged as surgeon. The Gulnare was not accepted by the 
Government, and Greely never went on the expedition. 
The vessel, however, started on her voyage and proceeded as 
far as Disko, but, proving entirely unfit to continue the jour- 
ney, she returned in the autumn disabled, and the whole af- 
fair was in consequence a failure. 

In September, 1880, Dr. Wild, the President of the Inter- 
national Polar Commission, in announcing to General Myer 
the progress of its work, stated that only two stations were 
needed to complete the circle, Point Barrow and some point 
in the North American archipelago. In view of this, al- 
though there was no necessary connection between the orig- 
inal "Howgate Plan" and Weyprecht's proposed circum- 
polar system, it was natural that the two should have been 
blended by the Signal Office, as they had been already con- 
nected in the Report of the House Committee recommend- 
ing the passage of the bill in the previous May ; and so it 



16 The Rescue of Greely. 

happened that after the failure and disappearance of the first 
project in the fall of 1880, it reappeared in the winter clothed 
with the mantle of "Weyprecht, and received an appropriation 
of $25,000 in the Sundry Civil Act of March 3, 1881. This 
was stated to be " for continuing the work of scientific ob- 
servation and exploration on or near the shores of Lady 
Franklin Bay," which, however, could as yet hardly be said 
to have begun. In this manner was assured the second ob- 
serving-post of the United States in the circle which the 
International Polar Commission was seeking to establish. If 
it had not been for the adoptiou of the Howgate plan the 
year before, authority would probably never have been ob- 
tained for a second station ; but the most unfortunate result 
of the combination of the two distinct projects was the 
necessity of taking Lady Franklin Bay, specified in the Act 
of 1S80, as the site. It had been one of Weyprecht's ideas 
that each circumpolar station should be fixed at an accessible 
point, which Lady Franklin Bay, as the result showed, cer- 
tainly was not ; and while no place could have been better 
adapted to serve as a base for an expedition to the Pole, 
which Howgate contemplated, it did not offer any marked 
advantages for making scientific observations, which alone 
was the purpose of Weyprecht. 

The third International Polar Conference met at St. Pe- 
tersburg, August 1, 1881. Already in the May preceding, 
the required number of stations had been secured, and by 
August the preparations for most of them had been under- 
taken. Others were subsequently added, until they reached 
a total of fourteen, as follows : 

Austria-Hungary, at Jan Mayen Island. 
Denmark, at Godthaab, in Greenland. 
Finland, at Sodankyla. 



The Circumsolar Stations. 17 

France, at Cape Horn. 

Germany, at Cumberland Sound and the South Georgian Islands. 

Great Britain and Canada, at Fort Rae, on the Great Slave Lake. 

Netherlands, at Dickson Haven, near the mouth of the Yenesei River. 

Norway, at Bossekop. 

Russia, at the Lena Delta and Nova Zembla. 

Sweden, at Spitzbergen. 

United States, at Point Barrow and Lady Franklin Bay. 

An elaborate programme of scientific work had been care- 
fully drawn up, which was to be followed at all the stations. 
The obligatory programme included meteorological, magnetic, 
and auroral observations to be made hourly during the whole 
period ; and on certain fixed days, the 1st and 15th of the 
month, the magnetic observations were to be made every 
twenty seconds, during a stated hour, at Gottingen time, at 
all the stations. Besides the required work, suggestions were 
made as to optional observations, including the investigation 
of solar radiation, evaporation, earth currents, atmospheric 
electricity, ice, tides, and, in fact, nearly all the natural phe- 
nomena peculiar to the region. The principal observatories 
in the temperate zones were to co-operate with the work, 
and all the observations, with the necessary reductions and 
calculations, were ultimately to be published. 

It will be seen from this on what a complete and far- 
reaching scale the enterprise was conceived and undertaken. 
For the most part it has been successfully carried out, and it 
is needless to say that its results will be of immense value in 
the solution of physical problems. A great deal of careful 
and thorough exploration over limited areas has also been 
accomplished. "Weyprecht died before the stations were act- 
ually established, but he lived long enough to see the ultimate 
success of his project assured. 
2 



18 The Rescue of Greely. 

Although the United States had not been one of the first 
Governments to agree to the plan, our two expeditions were 
the earliest on the ground, being in fact a whole year in 
advance. The others got off at different times in the sum- 
mer of 1882. Most of them were in time to begin work 
early in the fall, so that the proposed twelve months of ob- 
servations of the Commission extended nearly from Septem- 
ber 1, 1882, to September 1, 1883. The French expedition 
to Cape Horn and the Russian party at the Lena Delta were 
a little belated, though only by a few weeks. In consequence 
of this, the indefatigable committee issued a circular in Feb- 
ruary, 1883, asking for a continuation of the stations for a 
second year, but the proposal was not responded to with en- 
thusiasm, the difficulties in the way of acceding to it being 
too great, and the efforts required to start the expeditions in 
the first place having pretty nearly exhausted the persever- 
ance of the projectors. In fact, as far as the United States 
expeditions were concerned, the Act of Congress making 
appropriations for their support, passed in March of that year, 
expressly required that they should return. The stations at 
Sodankyla and at the Lena Delta were, however, kept up 
until 1884. The other expeditions left their posts in the 
summer or fall of 1883, and returned home safely, with the 
single exception of the unfortunate party at Lady Franklin 
Bay. The only one which had met with a mishap was that 
of Holland, which could not reach Dickson Haven, the in- 
tended place of wintering, the ship Vania which carried the 
party having been beset in September, 1882, in the ice-pack 
in Kara Sea. The observations were, therefore, imperfect. 
The ship, after being roughly handled by the ice, was finally 
disabled, and sank in July. The members of the expedition 



The Circumsolar Stations. 19 

were saved, and the scientific collections were brought back 
by the Dijmphna, which had wintered near by in the ice. 

In the spring of 1884 the fourth and final International 
Polar Conference met at Vienna. It was a remarkable 
meeting. The great project had been carried out, the work 
had been performed and reported, and it only remained to 
make arrangements for the final reduction and publication 
of the immense mass of scientific data. The members had 
much upon which to congratulate themselves and each other. 
At the assembling of the Conference, there were present not 
only the members of the Polar Commission, through whose 
efforts the work had been set on foot, but many of those 
who had actually commanded the expeditions, and who had 
brought their parties safely home from the stations around 
the poles, with the results of a year of fruitful labor. Among 
these were Captain Dawson, from Fort Rae ; Eckholm, from 
Spitzbergen ; Giese, from Cumberland Sound ; Payen, from 
Cape Horn ; Paulsen, from G-odthaab ; Ray, from Point 
Barrow ; Snellen, from Dickson Haven ; Steen, from Bosse- 
kop ; and "Wilczek and Wohlgemuth, from Jan Mayen. 
After a week of friendly intercourse and discussion, the Con- 
ference adjourned on the 24th of April, its last act being the 
adoption of a resolution, proposed by Dr. ISTeumayer, of 
Hamburg, expressing " its warm and genuine sympathy for 
the misfortune of Captain Greely and his party, and the 
most earnest hope for the happy return home of the second 
American Expedition." At the moment when Greely's 
co-laborers were uttering their kindly words of sympathy at 
Yienna, he and his command were wasting away at Cape 
Sabine, on the edge of the Arctic wilderness, with little 
prospect of escape from starvation and death. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LADY FRANKLIN BAY EXPEDITION. 

Undeterred by the failure of the previous summer, the 
Signal Office, in the winter of 1880-81, entered boldly upon 
its preparations for a new expedition to Lady Franklin Bay. 
The Act of 1880 gave general authority for the enterprise, 
and in the following March the appropriation was made to 
carry it out. General Hazen, who had succeeded General 
Myer as Chief Signal Officer, had the general direction of 
the expedition, and Lieutenant Greely was again selected 
for the command, being formally assigned to the duty on 
March 11th. Complete preparations were made, stores for 
three years were procured and shipped, and the steam- 
sealer Proteus, of St. John's, was chartered to take the ex- 
pedition to its destination. The Proteus was an excellent 
vessel, of 619 tons (gross), built at Dundee in 1874. She 
was built of oak, with a sheathing of ironwood from above 
the water-line to below the turn of the bilge, and her prow 
was armed with iron. Her speed was 8£ knots. Captain 
Richard Pike, who commanded her, had had considerable 
experience in ice-navigation, having made several sealing 
trips to the coast of Labrador. 

The following officers and enlisted men composed the 
force : 

First Lieutenant A. W. Greely, 5th Cavalry, Acting Signal Officer. 
Second Lieutenant Frederick F. Kislingbury, 11th Infantry. 
Second Lieutenant James B. Lockwood, 23d Iufantry. 
(20) 



The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 21 

Acting- Assistant Surgeon Octave Pavy. 
Sergeant Edward Israel, Signal Corps. 
" Winfield S. Jewell, Signal Corps. 
" George W. Rice, Signal Corps. 
" David C. Ralston, Signal Corps. 
" Hampden S. Gardiner, Signal Corps. * 

" William H. Cross, General Service. 
" David L. Brainard, 2d Cavalry. 
" David Linn, 2d Cavalry. 
Corporal Nicholas Salor, 2d Cavalry. 

" Joseph Elison, 10th Infantry. 
Private Charles B. Henry, 5th Cavalry. 
" Maurice Connell, 3d Cavalry. 
" Jacob Bender, 9th Infantry. 
" Francis Long, 9th Infantry. 
" William Whisler, 9th Infantry. 
" Henry Bierderbick, 17th Infantry. 
" Julius Fredericks, 2d Cavalry. 
William A. Ellis, 2d Cavalry. 
" R. R. Schneider, 1st Artillery. 

Two Eskimo were added at Upernivik, 

Jens Edward, and 

Frederick Thorley Christiansen, 

making a total of twenty-five persons. 

Two other enlisted men went to Lady Franklin Bay as 
members of the expedition, but returned with the vessel. 

On June 17th, the following instructions were issued to 
Lieutenant Greely by the Chief Signal Officer : 



The permanent station will be established at the most suitable point 
north of the eighty-first parallel and contiguous to the coal-seam discov- 
ered near Lady Franklin Bay by the English expedition of 1875. 

After leaving St. John's, Newfoundland, except to obtain Eskimo 
hunters, dogs, clothing, etc. , at Disko or Upernivik, only such stops will 
be made as the condition of the ice necessitates, or as are essential in 
order to determine the exact location and condition of the stores cached 
on the east coast of Grinnell Land by the English expedition of 1875. 



22 The Rescue of Greely. 

During any enforced delays along that coast it would be well to supple- 
ment the English depots by such small caches from the steamer's stores 
of provisions as would be valuable to a party retreating southward by 
boats from Robeson's Channel. At each point where an old depot is 
examined or a new one established, three brief notices will be left of the 
visit : one to be deposited in the cairn built or found standing, one to be 
placed on the north side of it, and one to be buried twenty feet north 
(magnetic) of the cairn. Notices discovered in cairns will be brought 
away, replacing them, however, by copies. 

The steamer should, on arrival at 'permanent station, discharge her 
cargo with the utmost dispatch, and be ordered to return to St. John's, 
N. F., after a careful examination of the seam of coal at that point has 
been made by the party to determine whether an ample supply is easily 
procurable. A report in writing on this subject will be sent by the re- 
turning vessel. In case of doubt an ample supply must be retained from 
the steamer's stores. 

By the returning steamer will be sent a brief report of proceedings 
and as full a transcript as possible of all meteorological and other obser- 
vations made during the voyage. 

After the departure of the vessel the energies of the party should first 
be devoted to the erection of the dwelling-house and observatories, after 
which a sledge party will be sent, according to the proposal made to the 
Navy Department, to the high land near Cape Joseph Henry. 

The sledging parties will generally work in the interests of explora- 
tion and discovery. The work to be done by them should be marked by 
all possible care and fidelity. The outlines of coasts entered on charts 
will be such only as have actually been seen by the party. Every 
favorable opportunity will be improved by the sledging parties to de- 
termine accurately the geographical positions of all their camps, and to 
obtain the bearing therefrom of all distant cliffs, mountains, islands, etc. 

Careful attention will be given to the collection of specimens of the 
animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms. Such collections will be made 
as complete as possible ; will be considered the property of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, and are to be at its disposal. 

Special instructions regarding the meteorological, magnetic, tidal, pen- 
dulum, and other observations, as recommended by the Hamburg Inter- 
national Polar Conference, are transmitted herewith. 

It is contemplated that the permanent station shall be visited in 1882 
and 1883 by a steam sealer or other vessel, by which supplies for and 
such additions to the present party as are deemed needful will be sent. 

In case such vessel is unable to reach Lady Franklin Bay in 1882, she 



The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 23 

will cache a portion of her supplies and all of her letters and dispatches 
at the most northerly point she attains on the east coast of Orinnell Land, 
and establish a small depot of supplies at Littleton Island. Notices of 
the locality of such depots will be left at one or all of the following 
places, viz. : Cape Hawks, Cape Sabine, and Cape Isabella. 

In case no vessel reaches the permanent station in 1882, the vessel sent 
in 1883 will remain in Smith Sound until there is danger of its closing by 
ice, and, on leaving, will land all her supplies and a party at Littleton 
Island, which party will be prepared for a winter's stay, and will be in- 
structed to send sledge parties up the east side of Grinnell Land to meet 
this party. If not visited in 1882, Lieutenant G-reely will abandon his 
station not later than September 1, 1883, and will retreat southward by 
boat, following closely the east coast of Orinnell Land, until the relieving 
vessel is met or Littleton Island is reached. 

A special copy of all reports will be made each day, which will be sent 
home each year by the returning vessel. 

The full narrative of the several branches will be prepared with accu- 
racy, leaving the least possible amount of work afterward to prepare them 
for publication. 

The greatest caution will be taken at the station against fire, and daily 
inspections made of every spot where fire can communicate. 

In case of any fatal accident or permanent disability happening to Lieu- 
tenant Greely, the command will devolve on the officer next in seniority, 
who will be governed by these instructions. 

W. B. Hazen, 
Brig, and Bvt. Major-General, Chief Signal Officer, U. 8. A. 

A few important points are to be noted in these instruc- 
tions. The work of the expedition was to be — first, explora- 
tion ; secondly, the collection of specimens ; and third and 
last, the observations called for by the International Polar 
Conference. 

On the way up the only points to be visited after leaving 
the Danish settlements were the caches or depots of provi- 
sions made by the English expedition under Captain ISTares 
in 18Y5. The importance of these caches lay in the fact that 
in case of the abandonment of the station from any cause they 
furnished a continuous series of supply depots at intervals 



24 The Rescue of Greely. 

along the line of retreat between Lady Franklin Bay and 
Cape York. Precautions had been taken to secure from the 
Admiralty, through the State Department, an authoritative 
list of these depots. Their position and the amount cached 
at each became subsequently a matter of vital importance. 
Beginning with the most northerly, they were — 

Cape Collinson, 240 rations. 

Cape Hawks, a quantity of bread (amount not exactly known), pota- 
toes, rum, and stearine. 
Cape Sabine (Payer Harbor), 240 rations. 
Cape Isabella, 150 pounds of meat. 
Cary Islands, 1,800 rations. 

The instructions contemplated a stay of two years at Lady 
Franklin Bay, and stated that a vessel would be dispatched 
to the station both in 1882 and 1883. These vessels were to 
bring " supplies for and such additions to the present party 
as are deemed needful." If the vessel of 1882 failed to 
reach the station, she was to cache a portion of her supplies 
at the most northerly point reached on the coast of Grinnell 
Land, and to make a small depot at Littleton Island. If the 
vessel of 1883 also failed to get up, she was to remain in 
Smith Sound as long as was safe, and, on leaving, to land all 
her supplies and a relief party at Littleton Island for the wir> 
ter. Finally, if neither vessel reached the station, Lieutenant 
Greely was ordered to abandon it not later than September 
1, 1883, and retreat southward by boat, until the relief ves- 
sel of 1883 was met or Littleton Island was reached, where 
he would find a fresh party with stores awaiting him. 

The party after arriving at St. John's embarked on board 
the Proteus, and, on the 7th of July, Greely with his com- 
mand left that port for Lady Franklin Bay. This was the 



The Lady FranTdin Bay Expedition. 25 

opening act of the drama — a drama marked by varied inci- 
dent, by perilous undertakings, by successful achievements, 
and by unsurpassed sufferings ; a drama which was to last 
three years, and to arouse the deepest interest and sympathy 
in Europe and America, until the rescue was accomplished 
and the few survivors were at last brought home. 

The voyage to Godhavn, the first stopping place, was un- 
eventful ; there were continuous northerly winds, with thick 
weather. On the fifth day out pack ice was encountered, but 
it was not extensive or compact, and did not delay the vessel. 
Godhavn was reached on the 16th. 

Here everything was favorable. The winter had been un- 
usually mild, and was followed by an early spring, so that 
the ice to the northward had broken up some time before. 
For fourteen years, it was reported, Upernivik had never 
been so green. Doctor Pavy, the surgeon of the Howgate 
expedition, who had stayed behind the year before at Disko, 
joined the party, and the dogs and other supplies which he 
had secured were taken on board, together with the remains 
of the house and the stores which had been brought up in 
the Gulnare. Other supplies were obtained at Bittenbenk, 
whither the Proteus sailed on the 21st. On the 22d she 
left Eittenbenk, and passing through the "Waigat, arrived on 
the 23d at Upernivik. Upernivik was the last point in reg- 
ular communication with the world of Europe and America 
at which the expedition would touch before taking its final 
plunge for two years into the great unknown. Six days 
were spent here in making the closing preparations. Lieu- 
tenant Lockwood took the steam launch to Proven, forty 
miles away, and brought back the two Eskimo, who made 
the last accessions to the party, while Lieutenant Kislingbury 



26 The Rescue of Greely. 

succeeded in getting four hundred guillemots at the loom cry 
near Sanderson's Hope. More dogs were bought, and skin 
clothing, sledge fittings, dog harness, and other supplies were 
taken on board the vessel. 

Leaving TJpernivik on the afternoon of July 29th, the Pro- 
tens started on the uncertain passage across Melville Bay. 
Here everything depended on the treacherous ice-pack, 
which might delay the vessel for days. In 1875, it is true, 
the expedition under Eares had crossed to within forty-live 
miles of Cape York in sixty-five hours, but everybody consid- 
ered this passage as most remarkable. The Proteus taking 
the Middle Passage, advanced steadily without check or ob- 
stacle until 7 a.m. of the 31st, when the engines were 
stopped in a thick fog. The dead reckoning placed the land 
about six miles off. An hour later the fog lifting, Cape 
York was seen five miles away, showing that the run had 
been made in thirty-six hours, which as Greely truly observed 
was " without parallel or precedent." 

Pushing on into the ISTorth "Water, the Proteus reached 
the Cary Islands on the afternoon of the same day. Two 
parties were landed on Southeast Cary Island : one under 
Doctor Pavy, to look at the cairn made by the Pandora y the 
other, under Greely himself, to examine the depot left by Sir 
George jSTares. At the depot was found a whale-boat and a 
large supply of provisions, all in good condition. 

Leaving the Cary group, the Proteus reached Littleton 
Island at about noon on the 2d of August. Here she re- 
mained ten hours. Some necessary repairs of the wheel 
were made, and the island was thoroughly searched. The 
English mail, which Sir Allen Young, in the Pandora, 
had placed here in 1876 for the Alert and Discovery, was 



The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 27 

found and brought off to the ship, to be forwarded to Eng- 
land. What was supposed to be the JSTares cairn was discov- 
ered open and empty, having probably been plundered by 
the Etah Eskimo. Lieutenant Kislingbury and Doctor Pavy 
visited the Polaris' winter-quarters at Lifeboat Cove, on the 
mainland, to communicate with the Eskimo, but they had 
apparently abandoned the place, as all traces of them were 
more than a year old. The transit instrument of the Polaris 
was recovered. It was decided to make a depot of fuel for 
possible future use, and 6£ tons of coal were landed by Lieu- 
tenant Lockwood, placed in and around a large cask, on low 
ground, on the southwest side of the island. 

Leaving Littleton Island at 10.45 p.m. August 2d, the 
Proteus went direct to Cape Hawks. It had been Greely's 
intention to stop and examine the ISTares cache at Payer Har- 
bor, near Cape Sabine, but the weather was fair, and no ice 
was in sight — an almost phenomenal condition — and he did 
not venture to delay. Three hours after starting he had 
passed Cape Sabine, and at ten minutes after nine in the 
morning he was lying to just north of Cape Hawks, between 
the mainland and Washington Irving Island. Lockwood 
and Doctor Pavy landed with parties on the island, while 
Greely, with Kislingbury and another party, went to examine 
the Nares cache on the Cape. The cache was found, contain- 
ing a large quantity of bread, some of which was mouldy, 
two kegs of pickles, two partly full of rum, two barrels of 
stearine, and a barrel of preserved potatoes. The party took 
off with them a keg of piccalilli, one of the kegs of rum, and 
three cans of potatoes, to try them, and to experiment in 
cooking them. Greely also, as he was short of boats, brought 
off the jolly-boat of the Valorous, which had been left at the 



28 The Rescue of Greely. 

Cape in 1875. The stores that were left behind were pro- 
tected more securely to resist the weather. 

Two hours after her arrival, the Proteus was again under 
way, and picking up the parties on the island, steamed cautious- 
ly in a northeasterly direction, along the western shore of Kane 
Sea. Cape Louis Napoleon was passed at 1.10 p. m. and 
Cape Frazer at 3. An hour later, through the rifts in the 
fog which was slowly settling, Greely sighted the Greenland 
shore at the northern edge of the Basin. At Cape Collinson, 
just before the entrance to Kennedy Channel, ISTares had left 
another provision-depot of 240 rations. Greely passed this 
point at half-past five, but fearing a heavier fog, he again 
concluded not to land, but to push onward to his destination. 
After running for five hours or more, the fog became so 
dense that the ship came to a stop. 

Shortly after eleven on the morning of the next day, Au- 
gust 4th, the fog lifted, and the Proteus advanced to Carl 
Ritter Bay, arriving at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. This was 
only 75 miles from the end of his journey, and Greely 
landed, and made a depot of 225 rations, as a provision for 
his possible retreat southward. Thence he hurried on to 
Cape Lieber. 

Cape Lieber is the eastern point of the great promontory 
separating Archer Fiord and its embouchure, Lady Franklin 
Bay, from Kennedy Channel. Beyond the promontory, on the 
north side of the bay, lies Discovery Harbor, where the sta- 
tion was to be fixed. Up to this point the voyage had been 
absolutely free from danger or difficulty, and it looked as if 
the terrors of Arctic navigation existed only in the minds 
of explorers. The expedition was destined, however, to have 
a little experience before it reached the end of the journey. 



The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 29 

Approaching the bay at 7.45 in the evening, the Proteus 
found a heavy pack against the land, and made a wide sweep 
to the eastward to pass it. All went well and good progress 
was made, until nine o'clock, when the vessel reached the 
southeast point of the bay. Here she was stopped, for the 
first time in her journey, by the solid ice-pack. She had 
come from Upernivik to Lady Franklin Bay, 700 miles, 
through all the perils of those perilous waters, in less than 
seven days, and had met no obstacle, seen no impending danger ; 
and now, with the winter station in sight only eight miles 
away, she found herself face to face with an impenetrable 
barrier. The polar pack, twenty, thirty, in some places even 
fifty feet in thickness, cemented to a solid mass by harbor 
ice, lay close to Cape Baird on the west, and stretched away 
in a vast semicircle to the Greenland coast on the east, at 
the mouth of Petermann Fiord. In this massive wall not an 
opening was to be seen. The polar current driving south- 
ward had wedged it firmly between the opposite shores, 
where it lay for the moment immovable. There was 
nothing to do but to wait, and the ship was anchored to the 
edge of the pack. On the 6th the ice began to move, and the 
Proteus shifted her moorings. A northerly wind blowing 
steadily drove the pack down, forcing the vessel before it. 
Presently the ice began to break off in huge masses. The 
Proteus steamed around the floes to keep head against the 
current, and to lose as little ground as possible. During the 
7th and 8th, ice fields reaching twenty-five miles in length 
passed to the southward. These were again wedged in below, 
between the shores of Kennedy Channel, opposite Carl Bit- 
ter Bay, and another wall was formed south of the vessel. 
She was thus hemmed in before and behind. On the even- 



30 TJie Rescue of Greely. 

ing of the 8th the northern pack began to move down in 
a solid mass, until only a mile of open water remained. The 
position of the Proteus was now critical, and a nip seemed 
imminent. Fortunately the gap did not close, but the vessel 
was for the next two days driven slowly southward, losing 
about forty-five miles. 

At noon of the 10th the wind came out from the south- 
west, and the situation changed at once. The pack began to 
move rapidly to the north, and on the morning of the 11th 
open water could be seen along the west coast as far as the 
eye could reach. The Proteus was again on her way, and 
at one o'clock in the afternoon had passed Cape Lieber, and 
in two hours more had crossed Lady Franklin Bay. Enter- 
ing Discovery Harbor by a narrow lane, she rammed her 
way through light harbor ice for a quarter of a mile, and the 
journey was ended. 

It was decided to fix the station at the winter quarters of 
the Discovery rather than near the coal-seam at "Watercourse 
Bay, as the latter point was exposed to the pack ice, and the 
ship might be endangered by lying there. She was there- 
fore on the 12th pushed through the harbor ice to within a 
hundred yards from the shore, and the work of unloading 
and establishing the station began at once. In sixty hours 
the cargo of stores and instruments was discharged. One 
hundred and forty tons of coal were landed, and the house 
was rapidly put up. The post was now established under 
the name of Fort Conger. 

The Proteus remained at the station until the 18th, and 
was delayed by ice at the entrance of the harbor a week 
longer. Under date of the 15th Greely had made a report 
of the passage up and the installation of the party, and dur- 



The Lady Franldin Bay Expedition. 31 

ing the delay occasional bulletins were sent off, noting the 
progress of preparations for the winter work. On the 17th 
Greely requested that certain necessary stores should be pro- 
cured through the Danish Government, to be brought up 
with the expedition of 1882. On the 18th he reported that 
the house was entirely framed and partly boarded, and by 
the 20th it had been covered. Two of the party who proved 
to be unfitted for the service were sent back in the Proteus. 
By far the most important, however, of the communica- 
tions made by Greely from his station at Fort Conger, in 
view of what afterward happened, was the letter of August 
17th, in which he gave directions to govern the relief parties 
which had been promised, and on which he depended. The 

letter was as follows : 

Fort Conger, Grinnell Land, 

August 17, 1881. 
Chief Signal Officer of the Army : 

Sir : — I have the honor to recommend that in connection with tbe ves- 
sel to visit this station in 1882 there be sent some captain of the merchant 
service who has had experience as a whaler and ice-master. Five enlist- 
ed men of the Army are requested to replace men invalided or who are 
found to be unfit otherwise for the work. One of the number should be 
a Signal Service sergeant. Sergeant Emory Braine, 2d Cavalry, and 
Sergeant Martin Hamburg, Company E, 10th Infantry, are recommend- 
ed most highly, and without they are physically or morally unfitted 
within the year their detail is requested. The two remaining men should 
be such as have had some sea experience. All the men should be rigidly 
examined as to their physical condition. The ice-master should be ex- 
pected to see that every effort is made to reach this point by the vessel 
sent. " In case the vessel can not reach this point, a very possible con- 
tingency, a depot (No. A) should be made at a permanent point on the 
east coast of Grinnell Land (west side of Smith Sound or Kennedy Chan- 
nel), consisting of ninety-six cans chocolate and milk, ninety-six cans 
coffee and milk, one-half barrel of alcohol, forty-eight mutton, forty- 
eight beef, one keg rum, forty-eight cans sausage, forty-eight cans mul- 
berry preserves, two barrels bread, one box butter, forty-eight cans con- 
densed milk, one-half barrel onion pickles, forty-eight cans cranberry 



32 The Rescue of Greely. 

sauce, forty-eight cans soup, twenty-four cans tomatoes, one gross wax 
matches (to be in water-tight case), one-eighth cord of wood, one wall- 
tent (complete), one axe and helve, one whale-boat. At Littleton Island, 
carefully cached on the western point, out of ordinary sight, with no 
cairn, should be placed an equal amount (depot B), but no boat. A 
notice as to the exact locality should be left in the top of the coal (prefer- 
ably in a corked and sealed bottle) buried a foot deep, which was left on 
that island. A second notice should be in the edge of the coal furthest 
inland, and a third in the Nares cairn, now open, which is on summit 
southwest part of island. 

The second boat should be left at Cape Prescott, or very near, in order 
that if boats are necessarily abandoned above that point one will be avail- 
able to cross to Bache Island and go to the southward. These boats 
should be not exceeding forty feet and not less than twenty above high- 
water mark, and their positions should be marked by substantial scant- 
ling, well secured and braced, to the top of which a number of pieces of 
canvas should be well nailed, so that it may be plainly and easily seen. 
A second staff, with pieces of canvas, should be raised on a point which 
shows prominently to the northward, so a party can see it a long dis- 
tance. Depots A and B should be made ready in Saint John's, and be 
plainly marked and carefully secured. 

The packages during the voyage should be easily accessible. Depot A 
should be lauded at the farthest possible northern point. A few miles is 
important, and no southing should be permitted to obtain a prominent 
location. The letters and dispatches should all be carefully soldered up 
in a tin case, and then boxed (at Saint John's) and marked, or put in a 
well-strapped, water-tight keg, and should be left with depot A if such 
depot shall be at or north or in plain sight of Cape Hawks, and the 
newspapers and periodicals left at Littleton Island. If depot A is not so 
far north, the letters and all mail should be returned to the United 
States. After making depot B, at Littleton Island, the vessel should, if 
possible, leave a record of its proceedings at Cape Sabine. If the party 
does not reach here in 1882, there should be sent in 1883 a capable, ener- 
getic officer, with ten (10) men, eight of whom should have had practical sea 
experience, provided with three whale-boats and ample provisions for 
forty (-40) persons for fifteen months. The list of all provisions taken by 
me this year would answer exceedingly well. In case the vessel was 
obliged to turn southward (she should not leave Smith Sound near Cape 
Sabine before September loth) it should leave duplicates of depots A and 
B of 1882 at two different points, one of which should be between Cape 
Sabine and Bache Island, the other to be an intermediate depot between 



The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 33 

two depots already established. Similar rules as to indicating locality- 
should be insisted on. Thus the Grinnell Land coast would be covered 
with seven depots of ten days' provisions in less than three hundred 
miles, not including the two months' supplies at Cape Hawks. 

The party should then proceed to establish a winter station at Polaris 
winter quarters, Lifeboat Cove, where their main duty would be to keep 
their telescopes on Cape Sabine and the land to the northward. They 
should have lumber enough for house and observatory, fifty tons of coal, 
and complete meteorological and magnetic outfit. Being furnished with 
dogs, sledges, and a native driver, a party of at least six (6) men should 
proceed, when practicable, to Cape Sabine, whence a sledge party north- 
ward of two best-fitted men should reach Cape Hawks, if not Cape 
Collinson. Such action, from advice, experience, and observation, seems 
to me all that can be done to insure our safety. No deviation from these 
instructions should be permitted. Latitude of action should not be given 
to a relief party who on a known coast are searching for men who know 
their plans and orders. I am respectfully yours, 

A. W. GREELY, 

1st Lieut. 5th Cav., A. S. 0. and Ass't, Commanding Expedition. 
On the 25th Greely sent this last dispatch : 

L. F. Bat, August 25, 1881. 

All stores under cover. Freezing weather commenced. Observatory 
under way. House entirely done except inside work, which can be done 
at leisure. Start a small party north and one into interior in few days. 
Ice in L. F. Bay has unfortunately not gone out at all this year, and so 
steam launch is kept here. No snow on ground. Party all well. Pro- 
teus delayed by ice at entrance to harbor for days, although channel open 
outside. Since Starr and Ryan are gone, seven men should come next 
year. Lowest temp., 22 = .0 on 20th. 

A. W. Greely. 

Gen. W. B. Hazen, 

Chief Signal Officer, Washington, D. C, United States. 

Soon after this dispatch was written the Proteus started 
on the voyage home. This was accomplished as rapidly and 
with as little difficulty as the journey up, and the ship ar- 
rived at St. John's about the 12th of September. 
3 



34 The Rescue of Greely. 

Greely and his companions, numbering twenty-five in all, 
were now left to their own resources. They were to begin 
at once the magnetic and meteorological observations, and 
the more brilliant, though perhaps not more important, work 
of exploration — all of which was to occupy them during two 
years of Arctic solitude and isolation. They were well pro- 
vided ■with all that could be had to make life bearable in that 
dreary and desolate region. Their provisions were ample for 
three years, and before the ship left they had killed at the 
station three full months' rations of musk-oxen. The supply 
of beef on the spot would be enough to keep them from want 
long after the period when the stores they had taken with 
them were exhausted. Moreover, they rested in the confi- 
dent belief that a vessel would be sent to them in the next 
summer, and again in 1883, as had been promised, or, if 
these failed, that a station of refuge would be established at 
Lifeboat Cove, 260 miles to the southward ; and they settled 
down to their work in good health and courage, with no ap- 
prehensions of the future. How terribly their expectations 
were to be disappointed, and how it happened that the disas- 
ter overtook them which such precautions had been taken to 
avert, is to be told in the chapters that follow. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE RELIEF EXPEDITION OF 1882. — THE NEPTUNE. 

The fortunate voyage of the Proteus in making her way 
in six days from Upernivik to the edge of Lady Franklin 
Bay without a check had one most unfortunate result. It 
created a false impression in everybody's mind, not only that 
the station could be reached easily, but that it could be 
reached without danger. The fact was forgotten that of all 
the vessels that had ever attempted to pass Kane Sea only 
three had accomplished the voyage before the Proteus, and 
that these had accomplished it at great risk. The influence 
of this impression that the difficulties had been exaggerated 
was seen again and again in the events of the next two years. 

In preparing for the expedition of 1882 the suggestions of 
Lieutenant G-reely's letter of August 17th were carefully fol- 
lowed. The letter did not draw up a complete plan for the 
expeditions, although some of its directions were extremely 
minute and specific ; but was rather a memorandum, contain- 
ing such suggestions as occurred to him after the experience 
of the voyage. Thus it is not quite clear from the letter 
what kind of vessel was to be sent on the first relief expedi- 
tion. The object of this expedition was to carry a detach- 
ment of five enlisted men to the station (or seven, as the last 
bulletin suggested), one of them to be a Signal Service ser- 
geant, together with a mail and certain stores and instru- 
ments, and to make two depots at points below. ISTo men- 

(35) 



36 The Rescue of Greely. 

tion was made of a commissioned officer, although the duty 
was an important aud arduous one. This fact and the sug- 
gestion that a " captain of the merchant service, who has had 
experience as a whaler and ice-master," should accompany 
the vessel, would seem to imply a possible intention that a 
naval vessel should be employed. Possibly no such idea ex- 
isted ; but at any rate it was not distinctly stated what the 
vessel was to be, or who was to be responsible except the ex- 
perienced " captain of the merchant service " for the success 
or failure of the enterprise. Of course, there was no neces- 
sity of making specific recommendations upon these points, 
as they could be determined by the authorities at home. 

The two depots, A and B, were to be made, " in case the 
vessel can not reach " Lady Franklin Bay. This was in ac- 
cordance with the original instructions to Greely, in the 
preparation of which he was doubtless consulted. Depot A 
was to be landed at the furthest possible northern point, and 
depot B on Littleton Island. The exact quantity of stores 
composing the depots was prescribed, and was the same for 
both, each depot being estimated at 250 rations. Two boats 
were to be taken — one to be left at depot A, the other at 
Cape Prescott. 

The purpose of depot A and of the two boats is clear. 
They were to be at points on the coast of Grinnell Land, and 
therefore to serve as aids in a retreat southward in addition 
to those already provided. The object of placing depot B 
on Littleton Island is not obvious. It was intended in case 
of a retreat the next year to have a relief party there with a 
very large depot, enough for both detachments for fifteen 
months — certainly not less than 18,000 rations. If this large 
depot was established in 1883, — and its establishment was 



The Belief Expedition of 1882.— The Neptune. 37 

clearly the most vital element ill the whole plan of relief, — 
the 250 rations of 1882 would be superfluous. If through 
any mishap this supremely important depot of 18,000 rations 
should not be made, the 250 rations of 1882 would be utterly 
inadequate to supply its place. The only other possible ex- 
planation of depot B is, that if the large depot was not es- 
tablished, Greely meant to use Littleton Island as a way sta- 
tion to the Cary Islands, one hundred miles below, where 
1,800 rations were deposited ; but this would seem to be 
negatived by his express direction not to leave a boat with 
the depot, where, if such a plan was contemplated, it might 
be of great use. 

Measures were taken early to set on foot preparations for 
the relief party. On November 30, 1881, the Chief Signal 
Officer called the attention of the Adjutant-General to Lieu- 
tenant Greely's requests, and asked that the General of the 
Army would call for volunteer offers to complete the detail 
required for service at Lady Franklin Bay. On the 2d of 
December, a letter was written to the Secretary of War, pre- 
senting revised estimates for the required appropriation to 
the amount recommended by Greely, namely, $33,000, and 
stating that the expedition should sail July 1st. On the 5th, 
the two whale-boats were ordered at New Bedford, and pro- 
posals for the supplies were invited from firms at St. John's. 
On the same day, the Danish minister was asked to take the 
necessary steps in order that his Government might direct 
that the stores mentioned by Greely should be ready for de- 
livery in Greenland. 

On the 6th of May, 1882, a board of officers attached to 
the Signal Service was ordered to meet in "Washington and 
consider plans for the supply expeditions at Point Barrow 



38 The Rescue of Greely. 

and Lady Franklin Bay. Two days later the Chief Signal 
Officer asked that an agent be sent to charter a steamer at St. 
John's, and that a naval officer should be detailed to accom- 
pany him. Mr. "William M. Beebe, Jr., a private in General 
Service, was designated as the agent, and ordered to St. 
John's, and Commander S. Dana Greene, of the Navy, was 
ordered to inspect the steamers offered. As no appropriation 
had yet been made, Beebe was directed to enter into a pro- 
visional contract, conditional upon the passage of the appro- 
priation. Reports from St. John's indicated that the season 
was bad and that the time was late for securing a suitable 
vessel. 

Commander Greene and Mr. Beebe sailed from Baltimore 
on the 17th of May, and arrived at St. John's on the 24th. 
They found that there were three sealing vessels suitable for 
the work, the Proteus, Neptune, and Bear, but the last re- 
quired repairs, and would not be available. Two smaller ves- 
sels, the Hector and Ranger, were also adapted to the service, 
but they were of less steam power and speed. Of the three 
larger vessels, tenders were received for the Proteus and 
Neptune, and the bid for the latter being the lower, it was 
accepted. A provisional contract was made with the owners 
June 3d, which became final when the appropriation was 
passed June 27th. 

The Neptune had her own officers and crew. Her master 
was William Sopp, a very capable seaman. Her chief mate 
was Norman, who had been mate of the Proteus on her voy- 
age of the previous year, and who first and last was a con- 
spicuous figure in the relief expeditions. Apparently it had 
not originally been intended to send Beebe farther than the 
Greenland ports, where he was to secure certain additional 



The Relief Expedition of 1S82.— The Neptune. 39 

stores ; but on the 4th of June he was designated to accom- 
pany the expedition to Grinnell Land. With him were a 
surgeon, and a sergeant and four privates. Delays or deser- 
tions prevented the departure of the others who had been 
selected. 

Most of the stores for the expedition had been sent to St. 
John's in the steamer Alhambra, one of the regular line of 
steamers plying between that port and New York. The 
orders to Beebe were based on Greely's letter of August 17th, 
and gave directions for the establishment of the two caches, 
in case the Neptune failed to reach Lady Franklin Bay. 
These, as already stated, amounted to 250 rations each. In 
addition to these the ship carried a quantity of stores for the 
expedition, including over 2,000 pounds of canned meats, 
2,500 pounds of canned fruits and vegetables, 6 tons of seal 
meat, 60 gallons of rum, 300 pounds extract of coffee, and 
other miscellaneous provisions, which, for some unaccount- 
able reason, Beebe was ordered to bring back in the event of 
failing to reach Lady Franklin Bay, and which he actually 
did bring back, to be stored at St. John's, from which place 
they were carried up next summer, to be sunk in the Pro- 
teus. They would have kept better in the ice upon the rocks 
at Cape Sabine. 

The selection of Beebe as the person in charge of the 
expedition was made by the Chief Signal Officer, who 
described him in a letter of May 8th, to the Secretary of 
"War, in the following terms : "I desire to send," as agent to 
St. John's, " Mr. William M. Beebe, now a private in general 
service, my private secretary. He was an officer of merit 
on my staff in the war." Beebe seems to have had some 
apprehension of the embarrassments that would arise from 



40 The Rescue of Oreely. 

his situation as a private, in charge of an expedition that 
included a sergeant, and on the 4th of June he wrote to 
General Hazen : " I should either be made a sergeant, dating 
back to rank whoever may come, or better still (and the 
President upon your request would, under the circumstances, 
do it) be made a lieutenant." This solution of the problem 
appears to have been impracticable, and the Signal Office, 
in a letter of June 18th, giving Beebe his instructions, de- 
fined his position as follows : 

In reply to your letter of June 4th, the Chief Signal Officer instructs 
me to say the men named, " enclosure A," or such of them as have re- 
ported, will be directed to report to you to be guided by the following 
instructions, wherein, though you can not lawfully be vested with powers 
of command, it is hoped you will have no difficulty of securing compli- 
ance by the use of your personal influence, supported by your official 
connection as disclosed by this letter. 

Dr. Hoadley will go up as medical officer, and you will find his as- 
sociation agreeable. 

You will not delay sailing beyond the time necessary to take in the 
stores and that required to put the ship in serviceable condition. Your 
point of destination will be Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land, where you 
will report to Lieut. Greely for his orders, and when the ship is ready to 
return you will bring back such dispatches, etc., as Lieut. Greely may 
entrust to you. 

If unable to reach Lady Franklin Bay you will establish the depots 
" A " and " B," as requested by Lieut. Greely in the memorandum which 
you have already been furnished. You will observe that these depots 
are to be established only in the event that it is impossible to reach Lieut. 
Greely. The supplies, therefore, under favorable circumstances, all go 
to Lady Franklin Bay, and those stores which are needed to establish 
depots "A" and " B " are included. Capt. Clapp, who goes to New 
York with the stores, will arrange, as far as possible, for marking the 
packages so that they may be separated and stowed at Saint John's, con- 
venient for the depots, if it should become necessary to establish them. 
If he should be unable to complete this it should be done by your men at 
Saint John's. 

If you should be unable to reach Lady Franklin Bay, after establish- 



The Belief Expedition of 1882. — The Neptune. 41 

ing the depots you will return with the vessel and the remainder of her 
stores to Saint John's and report your arrival by telegraph. 

Yours very respectfully, 

Louis V. Caziarc, 
1st Lieut. 2d Artillery, Acting Signal Officer. 

The Neptune sailed from St. John's on the 8th of July, 
and arrived at Godhavn on the 17th, where such supplies as 
the Danish authorities could furnish were taken on board. 
Leaving Godhavn on the 20th, the ship shaped her course 
directly across Melville Bay, without going to Upernivik. 
Making her way slowly and with difficulty, frequently 
stopped by the ice-pack, but always gaining, she came in 
sight of Cape York on the 25th. Here she was beset for a 
time and drifted with the tides. On the 28th she was again 
advancing, and at 7 o'clock in the evening had passed the 
Cary Islands. Littleton Island was reached early the next 
morning. 

So far all had gone well. But half an hour after passing 
Littleton Island the ship's progress was suddenly stopped. 
Going on deck, Beebe found a wall of solid pack-ice extend- 
ing across the head of Smith Sound, from Posse Bay on the 
west to Cape Inglefield on the east. According to his re- 
port, the ice was from twelve to twenty feet thick, and 
stretched out to the northern horizon. After following its 
edge for some distance, without finding a lead or a crack, the 
ship was turned southward, and passing Littleton Island and 
Port Foulke, came to anchor in Pandora Harbor. 

The next forty days were spent in a fruitless effort to 
penetrate the ice in Kane Sea. During the first week the 
ship remained in the harbor, riding out a succession of south- 



42 The Rescue of Greely. 

westerly gales. On this side, the harbor is exposed to the 
wind, and the ship parted her hawser twice, and once lost an 
anchor. On the 7th of August a second attempt was made 
to pass the barrier. The gale had loosened the ice somewhat, 
and the JS r eptune, steaming directly north, toward Cape 
Hawks, at first made satisfactory progress. Gradually the 
ice became denser, until by evening it was impassable, and 
the ship was made fast to the floe off Victoria Head, the 
northeast end of Bache Island. The pack closed in gradual- 
ly, and the position would have been critical had it not been 
that the ice around the ship was broken up and soft, and the 
pressure of the heavy floes, grinding it to powder, made a 
cushion underneath and about the hull, which, while it 
raised the ship several feet, protected her from the severe 
pressure. 

Here the J\ T eptu?ie was fairly beset. For a week her 
movements were confined within an area of twelve miles 
square. One day, the 10th, she got within twelve miles of 
Cape Hawks. This was her furthest northern point. 
Beebe formed the opinion that the intervening ice could not 
be traversed, and he was therefore unable to reach the place 
where he had decided to make his depot. On the 11th the 
pack closed in, piling the ice as high as the steamer's rail. 
On the 12th it began to relax, and by the 15th the ship was 
out of its clutches, having rammed her way into open water 
to the southward. Following the edge of the pack to the 
eastern shore of Smith Sound, at Cape Inglefield, she turned 
back to Payer Harbor, where she arrived on the ISth. 

Here the ship found an anchorage, between Cape Sabine 
and Brevoort Island. Beebe took this occasion to examine 
the English cache, made by the Discovery in 1875, on the 



The Relief Expedition of 1SS2.— The Neptune. 43 

long tidal island or peninsula in the harbor. This cache, 
which became later so important, was found to contain one 
barrel of canned beef, two tins (40 pounds each) of bacon, 
one barrel (110 pounds) dog-biscuit, two barrels (120 rations 
each) biscuit, all in good condition ; 240 rations, consisting of 
chocolate and sugar, tea and sugar, potatoes, wicks, tobacco, 
salt, stearine, onion powder, and matches, in fairly good con- 
dition. Three casks that had contained rum and alcohol had 
been separated from the other packages and broken, and 
their contents had evaporated or leaked out. The cache was 
rebuilt and made secure, and marked by two oars placed up- 
right in the rock. No provisions or stores were landed. 

On the 23d of August, as the southwest wind had been 
blowing with considerable force for two days, and ice floes 
were seen passing southward, the Neptune started out on 
her third attempt to reach Cape Hawks. Again the ice-wall 
was encountered, this time a short distance above Cape Sa- 
bine. Skirting the wall to the eastward, open water was 
found in mid-channel. This lead was followed to a point 
nearly due east from Cape Prescott, where it stopped. Again 
the pack was eagerly scanned, and again it appeared to extend 
miles away to the northward, while its impenetrable border 
reached the Greenland shore. The wind from the southwest 
increasing, the ship was turned southward, and as the captain 
declined to remain at Lifeboat Cove or at Foulke Fiord, and 
Payer Harbor was now closed by ice, she returned to her first 
anchorage at Pandora Harbor, arriving August 24th. Two 
weeks had made rapid changes in its appearance, warning the 
expedition that winter was approaching. The scanty vegeta- 
tion had become faded and brown, the birds had disappeared, 
and the summits of the cliffs were covered with snow. 



44 TJie Rescue of Greely. 

On the 25th the Neptune left Pandora Harbor to make 
her fourth trial. For four days she moved backwards and 
forwards in an irregular course along the pack, sometimes 
making a little progress northward, but not succeeding in 
approaching as near to Cape Hawks as on the second attempt. 
A sledge had by this time been made to carry the stores over 
the ice-pack, but the continual grinding and crushing to 
which the pack was exposed had thrown the ice up in hum- 
mocks, making it impassable. Moreover, the whole pack 
seemed to be moving bodily southward, and Beebe, fearful 
that he might be cut off from the positions in Smith Sound 
at which as a last resort he was to make depots, returned to 
Littleton Island. 

On the morning of August 29th he landed at the island to 
find a place for a cache. Natives were seen on the mainland 
opposite, at Cape Ohlsen, who had apparently discovered his 
presence. Crossing over, he found that they were a hunting 
party of Etah Eskimo, six men and three women, who wished 
to visit the ship. As the Etahs would probably rifle any 
cache they could find, Beebe concluded to postpone making 
the depot here, and to go over to Cape Sabine. Standing 
across the sound, he landed and established his cache at this 
point, the northernmost land he had reached. The stores, 
amounting to 250 rations, one-eighth of a cord of birch wood, 
and a whale-boat, were placed in a sheltered spot to the west 
of the Cape, well secured and covered by a tarpaulin ; while at 
a prominent point a cairn was made, in which was a record 
giving the bearings of the cache, and over it was placed a tri- 
pod made of scantling, securely anchored with rocks, and 
showing well to the northward. A description was also left 



The Relief Expedition of lS$2.—27ie Neptune. 45 

of the English depot in Payer Harbor. Leaving Cape Sabine, 
the Neptune, as shown by her track chart, made her fifth 
attempt to pass the pack, again without success, and after 
reaching a point opposite Cape Albert on Bache Island, re- 
turned in a northeast gale and found a temporary refuge 
under the lee of Cape Ohlsen, to the southward of Littleton 
Island, where the party of Eskimo still remained. 

On the 2d of September, the gale having abated, the Nep- 
tune made her sixth and final effort. Heavy field-ice was 
found off Cape Sabine, increasing in size and thickness as the 
ship advanced, until the captain refused to go further, and at 
8 o'clock in the evening she was tied up to a floe. An hour 
later, new ice had formed to the thickness of three inches, 
cementing the broken floes. The next day, September 3d, 
the ship was anchored to the ice all day, only shifting her 
berth to avoid the broken masses. 

On the 4th, finding it impossible to advance, the new ice 
having increased in thickness, and a leak having started in 
the boiler, Beebe decided to go back to Littleton Island and 
make his second depot. Although the Etahs were still about, 
there was no time to be lost, and the stores, amounting to 250 
rations, were landed in a cove at the north end of the island, 
covered with a tarpaulin, anchored with rocks, and so con- 
cealed as to be visible only at a few yards' distance. Minute 
directions for finding the stores were placed at the points in- 
dicated in Greely's letter, two copies in the coal at the south- 
ern end of the island, and one in the Nares cairn on the 
southwestern summit. After completing this work, the ves- 
sel crossed over to Cape Isabella, and left the remaining 
whale-boat, marking its position by a tripod. This done, 



46 The Rescue of Greely. 

nothing conld be gained by a longer stay, and a little before 
midnight on September 5th, the Neptune started on her 
homeward voyage. Godhavn was reached on the 8th, and 
after a week's delay to make repairs to the boiler, the ship 
left Godhavn for St. John's. Here she arrived September 
24th, and the expedition of 1882 was ended. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE BELIEF EXPEDITION OF 1883. — THE PROTEUS. 

The first relief expedition could hardly be said to be a 
failure, as far as the final result was concerned, as it performed 
every duty bearing materially on that result with which it 
had been charged. True, it had not reached Lady Franklin 
Bay, but that was in no way essential, as Greely was to stay 
only one year longer, and still had two years' supplies. The 
arrival of the Neptune at Camp Conger would not have 
altered one whit the final catastrophe, except by making a 
few changes in the list of its victims. In regard to the 
placing of stores, Beebe had carried out his instructions to 
the letter, except that one of the depots had been made at 
Cape Sabine instead of at a point to the northward, in Grin- 
nell Land, — which was a most happy mischance. In the 
amount of provisions deposited, the directions of the Signal 
Office were exactly followed : 250 rations, or ten days' sup- 
ply, had been left at each depot ; and the remainder of the 
stores carried by the Neptune, amounting to at least 2,000 
rations, or a full supply for three months, had been safely 
brought back to St. John's from the perils of the Arctic. 

After the return of the relief party, it became a matter of 
very grave importance to make such arrangements for the 
expedition of the next summer as would ensure success. The 
general guide to be followed in preparing the plan, as before, 
would naturally be Greely's letter of August 17, 1881, giving 

(47) 



48 The Rescue of Greely. 

an outline of the steps which he desired to have taken. This 
plan was briefly to send a capable officer and ten men, eight 
of whom should have had practical sea-experience, with three 
whale-boats and provisions for forty men for fifteen months. 
If the vessel was obliged to turn southward, she should leave 
small depots similar to those of the year before, at points in- 
termediate between depots already established on the coast of 
Grinnell Land, thus completing" the series of way-stations in 
case of a retreat by boat. The relief party were then to es- 
tablish their winter station at Lifeboat Cove, close by Little- 
ton Island, " where their main duty would be to keep their 
telescopes on Cape Sabine and the land to the northward," 
and when established there, with provisions, house, coal, 
boats, sledges, and dogs, they should send a detachment to 
Cape Sabine, and thence to Cape Hawks, or even to Cape 
Collinson. 

On the 1st of November the Chief Signal Officer submit- 
ted to the Secretary of "War a plan for the relief expedition, 
the details of which accorded with Greely's general sketch, 
which was enclosed as a part of the plan. General Hazen 
stated that the expedition should leave St. John's by June 
15th, and if possible reach Discovery Harbor. Failing this 
it should land at the designated point, establish itself for the 
winter, and open communication with Greely. If the vessels 
reached Lady Franklin Bay it was desirable that the station 
there should be kept up for another year. It was further 
stated that " it is most desirable that the officer and the en- 
listed men who are to go next year be detailed as early as 
practicable, in order that they may be trained and have expe- 
rience in rowing and managing boats, and in the use of boat 
compasses It is desirable that men be selected whose 



The Relief Expedition of 1883. — The Proteus. 49 

service has been in the northwest, and it is also important 
that the entire party, before going, should be familiar with 
boats and their management under all conditions." 

The plan was returned the same day by the Secretary with 
an endorsement stating that " it seems that it would be much 
more desirable to endeavor to procure from the Navy the 
persons who are needed for this relief party." To this Gen- 
eral Hazen replied : 

"To change the full control of this duty now would be swapping 
horses while crossing the stream, and when in the middle of the stream. 
To manage it with a mixed control, or even with mixed arms of the serv- 
ice under a single control, would be hazardous, and such action is strongly 
advised against by the many persons of both Army and Navy I have dis- 
cussed the subject with. The ready knowledge of boats and instruments 
is but a very small part of the indispensable requisites in this case. This 
whole work has required a great deal of attention and study from the 
first, and I have not a doubt but any transfer of control now would result 
in failure to convey all the threads of this half finished work, and that it 
would work disastrously in many ways. 

"In view of these facts, I would consider the transfer now of any 
part of this work to any other control as very hazardous and without 
any apparent promise of advantage." 

In accordance with General Hazen's plan, orders were is- 
sued on February 6th to 1st Lieutenant Ernest A. Garling- 
ton of the 7th Cavalry, then at his post at Fort Buford, 
Dakota Territory, who had volunteered for the service in 
December, to proceed to Washington, and take command of 
the expedition. Four enlisted men who had volunteered 
ware also ordered from Dakota. Lieutenant Garlington, 
who had served with his regiment continuously since his 
graduation from the Military Academy in 1876, arrived in 
Washington on February 20th. Soon afterward he wa3 
placed in charge of the preparations for the expedition, re- 
4 



50 The Rescue of Greely. 

lievirtg Captain Clapp, of the Signal Office, who had made a 
special study of Arctic matters, and who until then had 
superintended the arrangements. From this time until his 
departure, on June 13th, in the Yantio from New York, 
Garlington was engaged in preparing for the expedition. 

The passage of the appropriation Act on March 3d, com- 
pleted all that was necessary to enable the Signal Office to 
go on with the preparations. The Act required that the 
work at the stations should be closed, and the force brought 
back to the United States. Up to this time it had been hoped 
to keep up the station until the summer of 1884, as stated by 
the Chief Signal Officer in his letter of November 1st, to 
the Secretary of War ; and one object in sending out the 
relief expedition had been to inform Lieutenant Greely of 
this decision. Otherwise he would move south in the com- 
ing summer, in accordance with his instructions. Under the 
law of March 3d, however, the work was to be discontinued, 
and therefore one object of sending the relief vessel through 
to Lady Franklin Bay had ceased to exist. There remained 
the other object, which was to bring back the party with 
their records and instruments ; or, if Camp Conger should 
not be reached, to establish the supply station at Lifeboat 
Cove. The second was really the essential thing. As to 
reaching Camp Conger, Greely himself did not seem to con- 
sider it of great importance, as he made no direct reference 
to it in his letter of August 17th, and in his full report, 
dated two days earlier, he had said that, in his opinion, a re- 
treat southward from the station to Cape Sabine would be 
" safe and practicable." Every arrangement had been made 
for Greely to go to this point, or somewhere near it, and go 
he would to a certainty, unless an accident prevented him ; 



The Relief Expedition of 1883. — The Proteus. 51 

and lie was not likely to bring with him any considerable 
means of subsistence, as it had been arranged that he should 
find a depot on his arrival. 

Work upon the outfit of the relief expedition had already 
been begun. A dwelling and storehouse for the party that 
was to winter at Littleton Island were contracted for at St. 
John's, and the Navy Department was called on for two 
whale-boats, a dingy, and such other supplies as came within 
its province. Arrangements were made to charter the 
Proteus, the same vessel which had made the extraordinary 
trip in 1881, subject to inspection, and in the latter part of 
May General Hazen, accompanied by Lieutenant-Commander 
B. H. McCalla, of the Navy, proceeded to St. John's, and ex- 
amined the vessel. McCalla reported her as fit for the 
purpose, and she was accordingly engaged. Captain Pike, 
who had taken her up in 1881, was again to command her. 

Up to, or nearly up to this time, it appears to have been 
the intention to employ only one vessel on the relief expedi- 
tion. On the 14th of May, however, request was made by 
the Chief Signal Officer that a vessel of the Navy should be 
detailed for service in connection with the expedition, " as 
escort, to bring back information, render assistance, and take 
such other steps as might be necessary in case of unforeseen 
emergencies." It was added that the vessel need not enter 
the ice-pack, or encounter any unusual danger. As only 
about four weeks were given for preparation for this very 
exceptional service, it was impossible to fit out a vessel 
specially for the purpose, and the only thing that could be 
done was to take the most available of the vessels in commis- 
sion on the North Atlantic Station. The Yantic, com- 
manded by Commander Frank Wildes, which was then at 



52 The Rescue of Greely. 

Hampton Roads, was selected, and after her arrival at New 
York underwent such preparation as the time permitted. 
Her battery and ammunition were removed, to allow the 
stowage of additional coal, and a sheathing of oak plank was 
put on, 2 J- inches thick, increasing somewhat at the bow, and 
extending down from the water-hue a distance of seven feet. 
This sheathing was not calculated to resist pressure in the ice- 
pack, but was merely to prevent the sharp ice from cutting 
the ship's sides. She was in no serise a vessel fitted for ice 
navigation, nor, as was stated in the Chief Signal Officer's 
application, was such navigation contemplated. In order to 
serve any useful purpose as a reserve ship or tender, it was 
necessary that she should cross Melville Bay and put in at 
some harbor in Smith Sound ; but in most seasons this can 
be done in July or August without entering the pack. Upon 
these facts the sailing orders of the Yantic were based. The 

orders were as follows : 

Navy Department, 

Washington, June 9, 1883. 

Sir : The steam sealer Proteus, Captain Pike, has been chartered by 
the Chief Signal Officer of the Array to proceed to Smith Sound and 
Kennedy Channel for the purpose of bringing to St. Jobn's, N. F., Lieu- 
tenant Greely, U. S. A., and the party under his command (about twenty 
iu all, who have been stationed at Fort Conger, Lady Franklin Sound), 
for the past two years, engaged in obtaining meteorological data for the 
use of the U. S. Signal Service. Lieutenant Greely's party was conveyed 
to Fort Conger by Captain Pike, in the Proteus, during the summer of 
1881 ; and last summer an unsuccessful effort was made in the steam 
sealer Neptune to communicate with the above-mentioned officer. 

Inclosed herewith for your information are copies of a letter from 
Lieutenant Greely, to the Chief Signal Officer, written after the arrival 
of the former at Fort Conger: "Work of the Signal Service in the 
Arctic regions"; track chart of the steamer Neptune from July to Sep- 
tember, 1882 ; instructions to Lieutenant Greely ; and instructions to 
Lieutenant Garlington, U. S. A., "commanding relief vessel to Lady 
Franklin Bay." 



The Relief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 53 

An examination of these papers will acquaint you with the object of 
the relief expedition and the importance of its success. You will, there- 
fore, when in all respects in readiness for sea, proceed with the vessel 
under your command to St. John's, Newfoundland. 

After having filled up with coal at St. John's, proceed to the north- 
ward, through Davis Straits, in company with the steamer Proteus, if 
practicable ; but before leaving that port you will confer with Lieutenant 
Garlington, and make arrangements which will enable you to act advan- 
tageously in the event of an early separation from the Proteus, which 
ship, being fitted for cruising in the ice, will probably take advantage of 
opportunities to reach her destination which you would not feel author- 
ized in taking in the Yantic. 

In view of the possibility of the destruction of the Proteus, it is desir- 
able that you should proceed as far north as practicable in order to afford 
succor to her officers and men in the event of such an accident, and it is 
desired that you should await there the return of that ship, or the arrival 
of authentic information as to her fate. 

Under no circumstances, however, will you proceed beyond Littleton 
Island, Smith Sound, and you are not to enter the ice-pack, nor to place 
your ship in a position to prevent your return this season. You will take 
on board at St. John's all the coal that you can safely carry below and 
on deck, as it is very desirable that you reach your destination with an 
ample supply still remaining for use. It may be possible to obtain a 
small supply of coal on the coast of Greenland, but this can not be relied 
upon. v 

In cruising to the northward, you will rely to a certain extent upon 
the ice pilot, and upon the information which is given you by the Danish 
authorities at Disko and Upernivik, as to the probable movements of the 
ice in Smith Sound, based upon their knowledge of the prevailing winds 
and their effects upon the moving ice. 

The length of your stay to the northward of Upernivik must depend 
upon your discretion, and should you find it imperative to leave the 
vicinity of Littleton Island or Cape York before the return of the Proteus, 
you will establish a station on shore (having previously, in consultation 
with Lieutenant Garlington, settled upon prominent points on the coasts 
of Smith Sound or Baffin Bay for this purpose), in which you will leave 
information as to your movements. 

In issuing the instructions for your cruise the details must be left to 
your judgment, and the Department considers it only necessary to call 
your attention to the desirability of cordially co-operating with Lieutenant 
Garlington, affording him all the assistance in your power. 



54 The Rescue of Greely. 

When you have completed this duty you will return with the Yantie 
to New York. 

Very respectfully, 

Ed. T. Nichols, 
Acting Secretary of the Navy. 

Commander Frank Wildes, U. S. N. , 

Comm'd'g U. 8. 8. Yantie, New York. 

Lieutenant Garlington had been ordered to New York on 
the 21st of May. During the next two weeks he was super- 
intending the collection and shipment of the stores for the 
expedition. These consisted of supplies for forty men for a 
period of fifteen months. They were to go by the Alhamfo*a, 
the same vessel which had taken Beebe's stores the year be- 
fore. Sergeant "Wall, of the 3d Infantry, a member of the 
expedition, was detailed to go with them, and attend to their 
reshipment and stowage in the Proteus. The nine other 
members of the party, comprising Lieutenant Garlington, Dr. 
John S. Harrison, who had been engaged as Acting Assistant 
Surgeon, one sergeant, one corporal, one artificer, and four 
privates, were to be taken to St. John's in the Yantie. The 
latter vessel, however, was not to sail until the 11th of June, 
and as the Alhambra left on the 7th a considerable time 
would elapse between the arrival of the stores and that of the 
commander of the expedition, to whom it was all-important 
to know personally the disposition of every article on board 
the relief vessel. Impressed by these facts, Garlington sent 
a dispatch to "Washington, recommending that the whole 
party, including himself, should sail in the Allianibra. 

The suggestion was not approved, and the original pro- 
gramme was adhered to, as the facilities for discipline and 
care of the men would be superior on board the Yantie, and 



The Relief Expedition of 1883. — The Proteus. 55 

as a sergeant had been detailed to go with the stores. The 
sergeant, however, left the Alhambra at Halifax, owing, as 
was stated, to having been " injured by an accident." There 
was, therefore, no one at St. John's connected with the expe- 
dition to superintend the discharge and reshipment of the . 
stores. When Lieutenant Garlington arrived, everything that 
had come from New York had been stowed on board the 
Proteus, and no one knew where the different articles were. 
To get at the meteorological instruments, a large part of the 
stores had to be broken out. The guns that had been shipped 
could never be found, so that except for three rifles, a shot- 
gun, and two pistols which different members of the party 
carried with them, the expedition was without firearms. 

The instructions given to Garlington by the Chief Signal 
Officer make a long document, but in the sequel so much 
turned upon their language, that it is necessary to quote them 
in full. The paper was as follows : 

"War Department, 
Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 

Washington City, June 4, 1883. 
Lieut. E. A. Garlington, 

Commanding relief vessel to Lady Franklin Bay : 

Sir : You are aware of the necessity of reaching Lieutenant A. W. 
Greely and his party with the expedition of this year. This necessity 
can not be overestimated, as Lieutenant Greely's supplies will be exhausted 
during the coming fall, and unless the relief ship can reach him he will 
be forced, with his party, to retreat southward by land before the winter 
sets in. 

Such a retreat will involve hardship and the probable abandonment of 
much valuable public property, with possible loss of important records 
and life. 

For these and other reasons which will occur to you no effort must be 
spared to push the vessel through to Lady Franklin Bay. 

In the event of being obstructed by ice in Smith Sound or Ken- 
nedy Channel, you are advised to try to find a passage through along 



56 The Rescue of Greely. 

the west coast, which, beside being usually the most practicable, will 
afford better advantages for sighting and communicating with any party 
sent out by Lieutenant Greely. To make communication surer, your 
party must be able to readily send and receive messages by flag or helio- 
graph, and other means, and the necessary articles should be kept in 
readiness for instant use when communication is possible. 

Should the vessel be unable to get through the ice to Lady Franklin 
Bay or to reach the west coast at points above Cape Sabine, it will be of 
great importance that Lieutenant Greely should know of the efforts being 
made to relieve him and of the plans for doing so. You will endeavor, 
therefore, to convey such intelligence and omit no means of informing 
him or any of his party of the situation. Should any landings be made 
at prominent points on either coast during the efforts to get through the 
ice, you will leave a short record of the facts, with such information as 
it is desirable to convey, so deposited and marked as to render it discov- 
erable by parties travelling southward. If such landings be made at 
points where caches of provisions are located, you will, if possible, ex- 
amine them and replace any damaged articles of food, leaving, of course, 
a record of your action. 

If it should become clearly apparent that the vessel can not be pushed 
through, you will retreat from your advanced position and land your party 
and stores at or near Lifeboat Cove, discharge the relief vessel, with 
orders to return to St. John's, N. F. , and prepare for remaining with your 
party until relieved next year. As soon as possible after landing, or in case 
your vessel becomes unavoidably frozen up in the ice-pack, you will en- 
deavor to communicate with Lieutenant Greely by taking personal charge 
of a party of the most experienced and hardy men, equipped for sledg- 
ing, carrying such stores as is practicable to Cape Sabine, whence a 
smaller party, more lightly equipped, still headed by yourself, will push 
as far north as possible, or until Lieutenant Greely's party is met. In 
this and other matters you will follow closely the instructions of Lieu- 
tenant Greely, dated August 17, 1881, a printed copy of which is fur- 
nished you herewith. (Enclosure " 1.") 

The men not employed in these expeditions will lose no time in pre- 
paring the house for the whole party, and in securing the stores prepara- 
tory to the arrival of Lieutenant Greely. 

You will be furnished two observers and an outfit of scientific appa- 
ratus, and will be guided in their use by instructions herewith. The 
character and amount of the meteorological and other scientific work to 
be accomplished by your party is enumerated in enclosed memoranda 
marked B, C, D, E. 



The Relief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 57 

In addition to the medical officer, enlisted men taken from this city, 
you will employ three hardy ice-men at St. John's who have been already 
selected by the U. S. consul there under my direction, and in Greenland 
such Esquimaux as you may require. 

It is important that a careful and complete record of events should be 
made, and in case your party does not return this year that a full report 
be sent by the vessel on her return to St. John's. Each member of your 
party will be required to keep a private diary, which will be open to the 
inspection of the Chief Signal Officer only in case it should be necessary. 
- Whenever a junction is effected with Lieutenant Greely you will report 
to him with your party for duty. 

Should any important records or instruments have been left behind 
by Lieutenant Greely in his retreat, they may be recovered by the 
steamer to be sent in 1884. 

It is believed that with the stores and supplies sent last year, which are 
at St. John's, N. F., and at the Greenland ports, a list of which is here- 
with furnished (enclosure " 3 "), and which you will gather on your way 
northward, together with the provisions and articles supplied this year, 
everything needful will have been furnished for safety and success. I 
believe and expect that you will zealously endeavor to effect the object 
of the expedition, which is to succeed in relieving your comrades, since 
upon your efforts their lives may depend, and you can not overestimate 
the gravity of the work entrusted to your charge. 

A ship of the United States Navy, the Tantia, will accompany you as 
far as Littleton Island, rendering you such aid as may become necessary 
and as may be determined by the captain of that ship and yourself, when 
on the spot. 

With my best wishes for your success and the safe return of the united 
party, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. B. Hazen, 

Brig, and Bvt. Maj. Gen'l, Chief Signal Officer, U. 8. A. 

In the envelope with these instructions were several enclos- 
ures. Enclosure 1 was G-reely's famous letter of August 17th 
from Fort Conger, which was of paramount importance as a 
guide to the relief party, taken in connection with such 
other instructions as prudence might dictate after the light of 
the second year's experience. Enclosure 2 was composed of 
the memoranda containing directions for scientific observa- 



58 The Rescue of Greely. 

tions. Enclosure 3 was a list of stores designated as being "at 
St. John's or cached." Enclosure 4, not, however, referred to 
in any way in the body of the instructions, was a copy of the 
agreement for the use of the steamer Proteus. 

There was also in the envelope another paper or memo- 
randum, not signed or dated, containing apparently a pro- 
posed scheme of operations for the Proteus and Yantic, 
which was in some essential points in conflict with the in- 
structions. This paper read as follows : 

" The naval tender to join the Proteus at St. John's, N. F., and to pro- 
ceed with her to the neighborhood of Littleton Island. 

' ' The Proteus to land her stores, except supplies for more northerly de- 
pots, at Littleton Island, on her way north. If she succeeds in reaching 
Lady Franklin Bay, to pick up the stores, excepting the house and de- 
pots, if possible, on her return. The naval tender will await the return 
of the Proteus at the neighborhood of Littleton Island, and, on her re- 
turn, steam to the south in her company, until she reaches the southern 
limits of the ice-pack, when the vessels may separate. Should the Pro- 
teus be crushed in the ice, her crew will retire on Littleton Island, and 
the tender will bring to St. John's, N. F. , the officers and crew of the 
Proteus. The rest of the party to remain at Littleton Island. But should 
the ice render it dangerous for the tender to remain in the neighborhood 
of Littleton Island, until the Proteus returns or her crew and the expedi- 
tionary force succeed in reaching there, the tender may go to the south, 
leaving full particulars at Littleton Island. 

" Signals by flags, heliograph, and guns should be preconcerted, and 
communication by this means should be maintained between the two 
vessels as long as possible after they are separated by the passage north 
of the Proteus. 

"Nothing in the northward movement must be allowed to retard the 
progress of the Proteus. It is of the utmost importance that she take 
advantage of every lead to get up to Lady Franklin Bay." 

The first point to be noted in the main instructions is that 
Greely's supplies would be exhausted in the fall, and that no 
effort must be spared to reach Lady Franklin Bay. In this 



The Relief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 59 

statement it must have been assumed that from some unex- 
plained cause a very large part of the stores had been spoilt 
or destroyed during the two years, for it was afterward stated 
by the Greely Relief Board that the force was furnished with 
subsistence stores— the components of the army ration or 
their equivalents — for three years. Of beans, coffee, sugar, 
and salt, it had a supply for four years and a half, and there 
was in addition a very extensive assortment of canned fruits, 
vegetables, butter, and other articles which would probably 
be equal to another year's supply of food for the party. It 
was known that all these stores had been safely landed, ex- 
cept the 225 rations at Carl Hitter Bay, and also that before 
the Proteus left, Greely had succeeded in collecting three 
months' full rations of musk cattle. For fuel there had 
been landed 140 tons of coal, and the coal-seam near by fur- 
nished an unlimited supply. In fact, if no relief expedition 
had started, and if no orders to abandon the station had been 
given, the party could readily have remained at Fort Conger 
another year — housed, clothed, warmed, and fed without se- 
rious inconvenience. 

The second point of importance in the instructions was, 
that if any landings were made at prominent points on the 
way up where there were depots of provisions, Garlington 
should if possible examine them and replace any damaged 
articles of food. These points were now seven in number — 
Cary Islands, Cape Isabella, Littleton Island, Cape Sabine 
(two depots), Cape Hawks, Cape Collinson, and Carl Bitter 
Bay. Thirdly, if the vessel could not get through, the party 
and stores should be landed at Lifeboat Cove, the vessel should 
be sent back, and the party should remain ; fourth, the in- 
structions of Lieutenant Greely were to be closely followed ; 



60 The Rescue of Greely. 

and finally, the Yantic would accompany the Proteus as far 
as Littleton Island, rendering such aid as might become 
necessary, and as should be determined by her captain and 
Garlington on the spot. No provision was made for the con- 
tingency of the loss of the Proteus. 

The unsigned memorandum, on the other hand, laid oat a 
quite different plan for the expedition. First and foremost, 
it directed that the Proteus should land her stores, except 
supplies for the more northerly depots, at Littleton Island, 
on the way north. This was clearly not in harmony with 
the orders, which said nothing about landing stores on the 
way up, except in replacing damaged supplies at depots al- 
ready established, " should any landings be made at promi- 
nent points," and which, by dwelling at the same time upon 
the necessity of pushing through to Lady Franklin Bay, vir- 
tually prohibited any action that might obstruct this result, 
unless it was elsewhere expressly directed. The memoran- 
dum, having provided for the landing of the stores, also pre- 
scribed a plan of action in case of the loss of the vessel. In 
that event the crew was to retire on Littleton Island, and the 
relief party was to remain there with the stores which it had 
previously landed. The movements of the naval tender were 
also carefully laid out in the memorandum. She was to join 
the Proteus at St. John's and proceed with her to Littleton 
Island. Here she was to await the return of the Proteus, 
after which she was to steam to the south in her company to 
the southern limits of the ice-pack, at which point the vessels 
might separate — and, inferentially, they were not to separate 
until this point was reached, except while the Proteus was 
north of Littleton Island. If the Proteus was crushed the 
tender was to bring back her crew. The memorandum 



The Relief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 61 

ended with the somewhat vague statement that nothing in 
the northward movement must be allowed to retard the prog- 
ress of the Proteus, which can only be interpreted to mean 
nothing except such causes of delay as were specified in the 
memorandum. These specified causes of delay were two — 
first, the injunction to land stores at Littleton Island, which 
was only a slight delay ; and secondly, the injunction to remain 
in the company of the Yantic, which would be a serious 
cause of obstruction, as the Yantic was a considerably 
slower vessel. 

It subsequently appeared that the memorandum was drawn 
up by Lieutenant Caziarc, of the Signal Office, upon his own 
views of the necessities of the case, at the order of the 
Acting Chief Signal Officer, during the absence of General 
Hazen at St. John's, and in consequence of a request 
from the Secretary of the ]STavy that the Signal Office 
should indicate what it wanted the tender to do. A copy of 
the memorandum was sent to the Navy Department, by 
whom or through whom could never be ascertained, but not 
through the regular official channels. Here it was seen at 
one time by an officer in the Department, the copy being 
headed "Memoranda," or "instructions for naval tender," 
but it subsequently disappeared, and could not be traced. 

An unsigned copy of the memorandum was also, through 
misunderstanding or inadvertence, put in the envelope con- 
taining Garlington's instructions. Upon reading it Garling- 
ton immediately went to the Chief Signal Officer, and 
pointed out the contradictions between the main instructions 
and the unsigned memorandum. In the conversation that 
ensued, he was verbally informed by the Chief Signal Officer 
that he was to follow the main instructions and Greely's letter, 



62 The Rescue of Greely. 

and that the memorandum " was no part of his orders "; and 
this direction appears to have had reference to the landing of 
stores on the way up. This was, in its consequences, by far 
the most momentous decision made in connection with the 
expedition, up to the time of its arrival in Smith Sound. 

The Yantio sailed from New York June 13th, carrying 
Garlington, the Surgeon, and the enlisted men, and arrived 
at St. John's June 21st. Upon learning that Wall, the 
Sergeant who had been sent in the Alhambra, had left the 
vessel at Halifax, Lieutenant Garlington telegraphed a re- 
quest that Lieutenant J. C. Col well, of the Navy, an officer of 
the Yantic, who had volunteered, should be detailed to ac- 
company the expedition. The request was complied with 
immediately, and, as subsequent events showed, it was a most 
fortunate circumstance that this addition was made to the 
party. A further addition of three men from St. John's 
brought up the total number of the force to thirteen persons 
Two Eskimo were subsequently added. 

Lieut. Colwell's telegraphic orders were to report to Lieut. 
Garlington for duty, as a member of his party. Garlington, 
on the voyage up, assigned to him the duty of taking charge 
of the magnetic and meteorological work required by the 
Signal Office at the proposed station at Littleton Island, and 
also that of accompanying the sledging party that was to 
proceed north during the winter. No duties were given him 
in connection with the navigation of the vessel, or the dis- 
position of the stores, nor had he any authority in reference 
to these matters. During the voyage of the Proteus, un- 
til a short time before the wreck, Colwell was simply a pas- 
senger. 

At St. John's Commander Wildes and Lieutenant Gar- 



The Relief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 63 

lington entered into an agreement as to the movements of 
the two vessels. This agreement was as follows : 

MEMORANDUM OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN LIEUT. GARDINGTON AND 
COMMANDER "WILDES. 

Yantic to proceed to sea "with tlie Proteus, and remain in company as 
long as possible. Yantic will proceed to Disko under sail, will leave 
letters for Lieut. G-arlington at Disko and Upernivik. 

Cairns enclosing bottles or tins will be left at Cape York, 9. E. Cary 
Island or Hakluyt Island, Pandora Harbor, and Littleton Island. Yantic 
will remain in Pandora Harbor not later than August 25th, Disko not 
later than September 20th. 

Lieutenant Gar lington to leave letters in Disko and Upernivik, and rec- 
ords on Southeast Cary Island, or Hakluyt Island, Littleton Island, and 
Pandora Harbor if entered. 

Proteus to endeavor to communicate with Yantic at Pandora Harbor 
before August 25th. 

Should Proteus be lost, push a boat or party south to Yantic. 

Pandora Harbor will be headquarters, but before departure Yantic will 
run up to Littleton Island. 

In reference to this agreement, and to the circumstances 
that followed, it must be remembered that the Yantic was 
not, in a military sense, a part of the relief expedition. That 
expedition consisted of fifteen persons, of whom Lieutenant 
Colwell was one, under the command of Lieutenant Garling- 
ton, who were to be transported to their destination in a 
chartered vessel. Had the relief party and the Yantic form- 
ed a single expedition, they would have been under a single 
command — in this case, necessarily, that of Commander 
Wildes. The Signal Office had not, however, expressed a 
desire to constitute the expedition on such a basis, and the 
Navy Department acted in accordance with its wishes. 
There were, therefore, two independent commands. Com- 
mander "Wildes was to co-operate cordially with Lieutenant 
Garlington, affording the latter all the assistance in his 



64 The Rescue of Greely. 

power. He was not, however, to assume any direction of 
the expedition. His ship was to be employed as a tender, or 
rather as a transport upon which to fall back in case of dis- 
aster, and in which the crew of the Proteus might be taken 
home. Even in reference to a supply of provisions, when 
inquiry had been made of the Signal Office whether the 
Yantic should take any beside those for her crew, a negative 
answer was given. It follows, therefore, that her connec- 
tion with the relief of Greely, the object of the expedition, 
was entirely a secondary and subsidiary connection, to be 
effected through the medium of Garlington, in whom the 
primary authority and the primary responsibility were 
vested. 

It may be objected that this would be a narrow view for 
Commander "Wildes to take of his duties. But it must be 
remembered that the present statement is not made by Com- 
mander Wildes, but by the authors of this book. It is un- 
doubtedly a purely technical view; but in determining a 
question between primary and secondary responsibility, a dif- 
ference as essential as that between principals and accessories, 
it is necessary to start with a technical view. Had the relief 
party been lost, it would clearly have been Wildes' duty, in 
a technical sense as well as in every other sense, to take the 
same steps to rescue Greely that he would have taken had he 
been originally sent on that mission alone ; but as long as the 
members of the relief expedition remained alive and well in 
the Greenland waters, and in a condition to effect their object, 
although it was Wildes' duty to afford them every succor and 
assistance, the primary responsibility of measures for Greely's 
rescue rested not upon him, but upon them. If the relief 
party had become palpably demoralized, and had lost their 



The Relief Expedition of 18SB.— The Proteus. 65 

heads, the commander even of a tender would doubtless have 
been right in taking the enterprise in his own hands ; but 
Wildes was bound to assume until he had evidence to the 
contrary, that they had the capacity to discover and the in- 
tention to adopt the right methods to accomplish the end in 
view. A failure to execute orders is one thing, but a failure 
to exercise an independent discretion outside of and beyond 
orders, — in some ways, perhaps, contrary to orders, — to re- 
trieve the failures of others, is a very different thing. 

Another fact to be remembered in reference to the sepa- 
ration of the Proteus and Yantic is that in two essential 
points — capacity for ice navigation and motive power — they 
were very different vessels. The Proteus was built to cope 
with the ice, while the Yantic was no more fitted for such 
work than any other ship taken at haphazard. As to their 
coal capacity the Proteus carried between 500 and 600 tons, 
and the Yantic barely 200 below and on deck, while at full 
speed she consumed much more than the sealer. The 
Proteus made 8|- to 9 knots, while the Yantic made only 7. 

Garlington could therefore remain in company with the 
Yantic^ but the Yantic could not by any possibility remain 
in his company unless he chose to have her. Commander 
Wildes had no control or supervision over Garlington's move- 
ments, and if he saw fit to separate himself from Wildes, the 
latter had no right to detain him or even to make an objec- 
tion. The agreement said the two vessels should proceed to sea 
and remain in company as long as possible. They proceeded 
to sea, and the Proteus steamed right away from the Yantic. 
It is only fair to Lieutenant Garlington to add that she could 
not very well have done otherwise, if she was to reach Lady 
Franklin Bay and return that summer. 
5 



66 The Rescue of Greely. 

The day of departure from St. John's was the 29th of 
June. Soon after the separation the Yantic, running a lit- 
tle to the eastward to avoid the Labrador ice, hauled her fires 
and proceeded under sail, while the Proteus, taking a direct 
northerly course and steaming all the way, arrived at God- 
havn July 6th. Here she remained for several days awaiting 
the arrival of the Inspector, from whom she was to obtain skin 
clothing and Eskimo dog drivers. The interval was occupied 
in an attempt to discover missing articles of cargo, filling the 
coal bunkers, and arranging the stores for the proposed de- 
pots. The Yantic came in on the 12th. On the same day 
the Inspector arrived, and arrangements were made as far as 
possible for what was required. As the Yantic required a 
week in port to repair her boilers and take coal on board, the 
Proteus, after a further delay from bad weather, left God 
havn on the 16th, and, after stopping at Disko Fiord for a 
second Eskimo, proceeded alone to Smith Sound. 

The Proteus found plenty of ice in Melville Bay, but it 
was mostly rotten and thin, and, on the whole, she had a fair 
passage. When two days out from Disko Fiord, on the 19th, 
she was stopped for the first time by the pack, and worked 
back to the eastward, occasionally approaching the land in the 
bight of the bay. According to Garlington's report, the cap- 
tain of the Proteus had made a considerable error in his po- 
sition, and it appears from her track on the chart that she 
must at one time at least have been heading directly into the 
land ice. It is therefore not to be wondered at that she found 
the pack impenetrable in that direction. Turning again to 
the southward and afterward to the westward, on the morn- 
ing of the 20th she was in the neighborhood of Cape York, 
and again heading for the land when the ice stopped her. 



The Relief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 67 

Retracing her course once more, she made twenty miles to 
the south, and, continuing on to the westward through loose 
and rotten ice, she succeeded in rounding Cape York. Con. 
ical Rock and Saunders Island were passed on the 21st, and 
on the afternoon of the same day a landing was made at Cary 
Island. 

Garlington made an examination of the Nares cache of 
1,800 rations on Southeast Cary Island and found the boat 
sound and sixty per cent of the rations in good condition. 
A record for Commander Wildes was placed in the cache- 
Leaving the island after a stay of four hours, he steamed to 
Pandora Harbor, where he left a record early on the morn- 
ing of the 22d. The weather was fine and no ice was to be 
seen, and it was determined to push on at once without stop- 
ping, with a view to making the first cache at Cape Prescott. 
Littleton Island was passed a little before ten o'clock, and 
three-quarters of an hour later the ice-pack was sighted. At 
half -past eleven the ship had come up with it, and it presented 
an unbroken front. Garlington thereupon decided to go to 
Cape Sabine "to examine cache there, leave records, and 
await further developments." At half-past three the Proteus 
came to anchor at Payer Harbor. 

She remained at her anchorage from 3.30 to 8 p.m. This 
stay of four hours and a half at Cape Sabine was a turning- 
point in the history of the relief expedition. It was made 
up of golden moments. It is true that no one could predict 
that by that time next day the Proteus would be at the bot- 
tom of Kane Sea. It is also true that Grarlington's instruc- 
t'ons had been officially construed as not including the for- 
mation of depots on the way north, and that the importance 
of reaching Lady Franklin Bay had been impressed upon 



68 The Rescue of Greely. 

liis mind as the main purpose of his enterprise. At the 
same time, it was known with tolerable certainty that two 
months later Greely would be at that point, if he carried out 
his intentions ; and the commander of the relief expedition, 
although not expressly directed to land anywhere, had been 
instructed that if landings should be made at points where 
caches of provisions were located, he was, if possible, to ex- 
amine them, and replace any damaged articles of food. 

Now there were two caches at or near Cape Sabine. One 
of them, left by Beebe the year before, was around the point 
of the cape. The other, left by Nares in 1875, was on 
Stalknecht Island, a long, low rock in the harbor itself, due 
west from Brevoort Island, and close to it. The position of 
this cache was well known. Beebe had visited it in 1882, 
and had made a report of its condition, as stated in the last 
chapter. The Proteus was now at Payer Harbor, probably 
within half a mile of Stalknecht Island ; and on board the 
vessel were the four depots of provisions, of 250 rations 
each, that had been arranged at Disko to be in readiness for 
landing, at some time and at some place. 

The first thing done at Payer Harbor was to land two 
privates of the expedition with magnetic and other instru- 
ments to get a set of observations. Garlington, with a party 
of his men in one of the ship's boats, then went to search 
for the cache left at the Cape by Beebe. It was found after 
some difficulty. The tripod with its flag which marked the 
cairn had fallen down, and the tarpaulin which covered a 
part of the stores had been pulled up. Everything else was 
in good condition except the boat, which bore marks of the 
claws of bears, and from which a patch of lead had been 
pulled off ; but the damage was slight. The tripod was set 



The Belief Expedition of 1883.— The Proteus. 69 

up and secured. The repair of the cache and the set of 
observations are all the work that was reported as having 
been done at Cape Sabine on the way north. The Nares 
cache, according to Grarlington's second letter to the Chief 
Signal Officer of October 20th, " was not disturbed." 

While the men were at work Garlington took a look at 
the ice to the northward in Kane Sea. Seeing open lanes 
of water in the direction of what appeared to be Cape 
Hawks, and prompted by the conviction that he ought to 
take advantage of every opportunity to reach Lady Franklin 
Bay, he hurried back to the ship, recalled his men, and 
directed Captain Pike to get under way and examine the 
leads with a view to going north. The Proteus started at 
eight in the evening. Lieutenant Colwell took his post in 
the crow's-nest with the mate. After making about twenty 
miles through the loose pack, the ship was stopped near Cape 
Albert, within six hundred yards of the open water, beyond 
which a lane extended as far as the eye could reach, along 
the coast. Entering a crack in the ice, she got through half 
the distance by ramming. Beyond this point she could make 
no impression, the ground-up ice forming a cushion under 
her bows and so deadening her way that there was no mo- 
mentum in her blows. At midnight the attempt was aban- 
doned, and other leads were tried, until, at 5 a.m. of the 
23d, the ship was in the open water. But the long lane of 
the evening before had now disappeared, and in its place 
was the solid pack. 

The ship now turned to the southward to escape from 
what might become at any moment a critical position. The 
tide was bringing back the floes that had been started down 
Smith Sound, and Buchanan Strait and the lower part of 



TO The Rescue of Greely. 

Kane Sea were fast filling up. Toward three o'clock the 
ship was stopped within four hundred yards of open water. 
Suddenly the ice in the crack began to show signs of enor- 
mous pressure. Unfortunately the ship, in the endeavor to 
extricate herself, was lying at the moment east and west, 
which subjected her sides to the full strain of the pack work- 
ing north. Had she been headed south, the pressure, though 
it would have thrown up her bow, would probably have left 
her without serious injury. As it was, her situation was 
the worst that could have been contrived, and with a con- 
tinuance of the nip, the result was inevitable. 

The Proteus was a staunch vessel, and nothing showed it 
more than the way in which she stood the terrible trial of 
that July afternoon in Kane Sea. Had she not been of ex- 
traordinary strength and endurance, the ice, which was from 
five to seven feet thick, would have made short work of her. 
As it was, there was ample time for preparation, supposing that 
the ordinary precautions of ice-navigation had been taken. 
The nip began about three o'clock. At half -past four the 
starboard rail was crushed in. At this time, Garlington and 
a part of his men were in the hold getting out stores, and 
another party under the Sergeant was at the same work in 
the fore-peak, where the prepared depots had been stowed. 
Presently the ship's side opened with a crash, the ice forced 
its way into the coal bunkers, the water rushed into the hold, 
and the deck planks began to rise. The pressure of the 
floes kept the ship up, and the stores winch had been got 
on deck were thrown upon the ice. In the hurry, a third 
of what was thrown overboard was lost by falling too near 
the ship. The whale-boats, one of which had become jammed 
and was saved with difficulty, and the dingy, were got out by 



The Relief Expedition of 1883. — The Proteus. 11 

Lieutenant Colwell, who was the last man to leave the ship. 
At a quarter past seven, as the tide turned and the pressure 
slackened, she began to sink, and soon passed out of sight. 

The crew of the Proteus, freed from the restraints of dis- 
cipline, with one or two exceptions, lent no assistance in 
saving the stores, and after securing their bags, spent their 
time in plundering the property of the expedition. The 
captain could not prevent it, and when it came to a question 
of force between the relief party and the sailors, the latter 
had in many ways the advantage. After the ship went 
down, it was agreed that the crew, numbering twenty-two 
men, should take the three ship's boats, and the relief de- 
tachment, numbering fifteen, the two whale-boats belonging 
to it, and that they should all sail in company and work for 
the common good. One of the whale-boats was then loaded 
with provisions, estimated at five hundred rations, and 
Lieutenant Colwell, making up a crew in part from the 
steamer's men, took them ashore at a point four miles west 
of Cape Sabine, and made a depot, afterward known as the 
" wreck-camp cache." 

After Colwell's return to the floe, Garlington took a boat 
and attempted to reach the land, but " after going half a 
mile found all approaches closed, so returned, and pulled the 
boats on the floe." Later, Colwell made another trip to Cape 
Sabine, followed shortly by Garlington in the whale-boat, and 
by all of Captain Pike's boats. All these arrived safely 
although with difficulty, only two men in Garlington's boat 
knowing how to row. The boat came near swamping on the 
way over, the plug in the bottom of the boat having been 
worked out by boxes rubbing against it. Garlington then 
attempted to return to the floe, but found the approaches cut 



72 The Rescue of Greely. 

off, and pulled back to the Cape. Reaching the floe a 
second time, Colwell was obliged to fill his boat with the 
men who had been left behind, and was thus prevented from 
taking any considerable quantity of the provisions that re- 
mained. A final attempt was made by Sergeant Ivenney, which 
resulted in saving the dingy and another boat-load of stores. 
The rest, consisting of two barrels, and some scattered cans 
and clothing, were abandoned on the ice. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE RETREAT FROM THE WRECK OF THE PROTEUS. 

In reference to the events at the time of the wreck and 
following it, it must be confessed that it was a cruel situation 
in which this young officer of cavalry was placed, taken from 
his station in Dakota, after six years of service with his 
regiment, and suddenly finding himself in a sinking ship, in 
the middle of Kane Sea, with the whole responsibility of 
a most important expedition on his shoulders. That he had 
voluntarily assumed this responsibility did not make his 
position any the less distressing. As long as no mishap 
occurred, the charge of conducting the expedition was a light 
one, by whomsoever it might be borne. But the moment 
an accident happened, — and the history of navigation in those 
waters is little more than a chapter of accidents, — the nautical 
experience and nautical judgment of the head of the expedi- 
tion became the prime element in the situation. From that 
moment there was not a decision to be taken, not an act to 
be performed, that did not call for this experience and 
judgment, and call for them in a high degree. Under such 
circumstances, the presence of a professional subordinate, 
though it may lessen, does not obviate the difficulties of a 
commander whose occupations have been foreign to the 
business in hand. 

Garlington now had his party of fifteen safely on shore at 
Cape Sabine, with two whale-boats, and provisions for forty 

(73) 



74 The Rescue of Greely. 

days. The crew of the Proteus were not materially either 
a help or a hindrance, except that they rendered possible a 
separation of the two boats of the relief party. A plan of 
this kind was suggested by Colwell, his idea being to take a 
boat, lightly equipped, with picked men, and hasten south to 
get the news to the Yantic. Garlington, with the other 
boat, could then have remained at Littleton Island, or have 
followed with the crew of the Proteus, along the east shore, 
making as good time as he could. The suggestion accorded 
nearly with the Wildes-Garlington agreement, which said : 
"Should Proteus be lost, push a boat or party south to 
Yantic." It was not adopted, however, and the whole party 
remained in company until it reached Cape York. 

It was recognized that the Yantic was now the essential 
element in the problem. .Nothing had been done to relieve 
Greely, except the landing of five hundred rations (estimated) 
at the wreck-camp cache, and some few stores and clothing at 
Cape Sabine. The relief party had come with the intention 
of wintering at Littleton Island, if it failed to reach Lady 
Franklin Bay, but it had lost its stores. The Yantic had on 
board provisions sufficient to have supplied the relief party, 
or a portion of it, for the winter. If she arrived at Littleton 
Island, " the question," says Garlington in his report, " would 
become one of easy solution. I could get from her all the 
stores she could spare, including clothing, coal, and canvas, 
establish a station at Lifeboat Cove, remain there with two or 
three men, and send the rest of the party with the crew of 
the Proteus to St. John's." 

The Yantic had not at this time arrived at Littleton Island, 
or Pandora Harbor just below, and Garlington came to the 
conclusion that she would not arrive. "It was mv hone&t 



The Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus. 15 

opinion," he says, " that the Yantie would not cross Melville 
Bay." In this he was guided by what he had seen of the 
ice on the way up, taken in connection with the instructions 
to Commander Wildes, as far as he knew them, and his opin- 
ion seems to have been generally shared by those with him. 
On the other hand lay the fact that the only object of the 
Yantie 1 s cruise was to go to Littleton Island, or some neigh- 
boring point ; that the agreement between himself and Com- 
mander "Wildes expressly provided that the Yantie should 
remain until August 25th in Pandora Harbor, six miles below 
Littleton Island, which would be the head-quarters, where the 
Proteus should endeavor to communicate with her, the Yan- 
tie agreeing before her departure to run up to Littleton Island ; 
and finally, that a reasonable doubt existed, of which a few 
days' delay would furnish a probable solution, and the ques- 
tion was one upon which the success or failure of the relief 
expedition, the performance of the Government's pledge to 
Greely, and the lives of his party might perhaps depend. In 
forming a judgment upon this all-important question, the for- 
mer considerations appear to have prevailed, and it was deci- 
ded to move southward at once. 

After a day's rest at Cape Sabine, on the 25th of July the 
two parties started independently in their boats, the crew of 
the Proteus taking their own provisions (amount unknown), 
and the relief party carrying about 600 rations, estimating 
the amount at the figures reported, which were forty days' 
provisions for fifteen men. If this supply should prove in- 
sufficient, Garlington had also the possible contingency of 
finding game on the eastern shore, (although for small game 
he had but one shotgun and thirty-six cartridges), and as the 
last resort of replenishing his stores from the depot on 



76 The Rescue of Greelij. 

Cary Island. The resources which would be at Greely's dis- 
posal, should he arrive at Cape Sabine for the winter, were 
correctly described by Garlington in the record left by him 
on Brevoort Island, on the second day after the wreck, the 
essential part of which is as follows : 

"A depot was landed from the floe at a point about three miles from 
the point of Cape Sabine as you turn into Buchanan Strait. There were 
five hundred rations of bread, sleeping bags, tea, and a lot of canned 
goods ; no time to classify. This cache is about thirty feet from the 
water-line, and twelve feet above it on the west side of a little cove under 
a steep cliff. Rapidly closing ice prevented its being marked by a flag- 
staff or otherwise ; have not been able to land there since. A cache of 
two hundred and fifty rations in same vicinity left by the expedition of 
18S1 ; visited by me and found in good condition, except boat broken by 
bears. There is a cache of clothing on point of Cape Sabine, opposite 
Brevoort Island, in the 'jamb' of the rock, and covered with rubber 
blankets. The English depot on the small island near Brevoort Island in 
damaged condition ; not visited by me. There is a cache of two hundred 
and fifty rations on the northern point of Littleton Island, and a boat at 
Cape Isabella." 

Soon after starting from Cape Sabine, the relief detachment 
was separated from the others, and crossing the sound, landed 
near Lifeboat Cove. Next morning it stopped at Littleton 
Island, leaving a record, which announced the disaster to the 
Proteus, and stated that all hands had been saved, and that 
the relief party had arrived at Littleton Island. Consistently 
with Garlington's theory that the Yantic could not or would 
not come up, notwithstanding the agreement, the record was 
not expressed as if Wildes would ever see it, but was appar- 
ently intenderl to enlighten and reassure Lieutenant Greely, 
in case that officer should come to the island before going to 
Cape Sabine. It went on to say : " Much provisions gotten 
over side of ship, but a great quantity went under before it 




-ii- ■■!! i I I'h,;- ■ | 



The Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus. T7 

could be removed a sufficient distance from the ship for safety. 
500 pounds of hard bread, sleeping bags, and assorted subsist- 
ence stores were landed from the floe, about three miles 
from Cape Sabine around point toward Bache Island. 
There is also a cache, made last year, along same shore. The 
depot was secured as well as possible. Ice was rapidly clos- 
ing, heavy, etc. A quantity of clothing was left on extreme 
point of Cape Sabine, and one barrel of beef, all poorly se- 
cured for same reason as above. I am making for the south 
to communicate with U. S. Steamer Yantie, which is en- 
deavoring to get up. Every effort will be made to come 
north at once for the Greely party. The Yantic can not 
come into the ice, and she has a crew of 146 men. So will 
have to get another ship. Everything will be done to get 
as far north as possible before the season closes. Ice thick 
and heavy. Calm to-day, and I am in a great hurry to take 
advantage of it and tide." 

As it turned out, Greely passed the winter at Cape Sabine, 
and did not cross to Littleton Island, so that he was never in 
a position to obtain whatever encouragement might have 
been derived from the perusal of this record. If he had 
been, it would have puzzled him not a little. It reasoned 
substantially that although the Yantic (presumably some- 
where between Upernivik and Littleton Island) was endeav- 
oring to get up, Garlington would not wait for her, but would 
make for the south to communicate with her, cause her to 
desist from her perilous undertaking, as she could not enter 
the ice, and then go back in her to St. John's to get another 
vessel, — for certainly no other vessel could be obtained short 
of that place, — after which, all would be done to get as far 
north as possible. 



78 The Rescue of Greely. 

In tlie endeavor to communicate with the Yantic, which, 
according to the record, Garlington now purposed making, 
the natural course to pursue was to visit those points of com- 
munication which had been agreed upon by the two com- 
manders before leaving St. John's, leaving records which 
should indicate as closely as possible the next stages in the 
retreat southward. However impossible the Yantic might 
find the passage, she was endeavoring to get up, and Garling- 
ton was endeavoring to meet her, so that in pursuing this 
plan he was only following the most obvious and necessary 
line of conduct. The stations agreed upon as places of com- 
munication were in the inverse order, Littleton Island, Pan- 
dora Harbor, Hakluyt or Southeast Cary Island, and Cape 
York. If any meeting was to take place, therefore, it would 
probably be at or near one of these points ; and if the Yantic 
passed the boats without meeting, it was by a record at these 
points that the mishap could most quickly be remedied. The 
next point sought was therefore Pandora Harbor, where Cap- 
tain Pike's party, composing the crow of the Proteus, were 
rejoined, and where another record was left. Some deten- 
tion occurred here from fog, but on the afternoon of the 
28th the boats were again moving; southward. 

The party passed the night at Cape Saumarez. At Gar- 
lington's request, the boatswain of the Proteus was trans- 
ferred to his boat, only two of his men being, as he states, 
" at all versed in the management of a small boat." North- 
umberland Island was reached in the evening of the 29th, 
and the boats were delayed here by a strong easterly wind 
until the following afternoon when they started for Cary 
Island ; but after proceeding twenty miles, they were obliged 
by bad weather to run in to the mainland. On the 31st the 



The Retreat from the 'Wreck of the Proteus. 79 

boats reached a point seven miles north of Cape Parry, where 
they remained two days, during a heavy easterly storm. 
This was now the natural point of departure for the Cary 
Islands, the next of the prearranged post-offices. After a 
consultation with Colwell, Garlington decided not to go there, 
as Colwell " thought it would be extremely hazardous with 
our heavily laden boats." Accordingly, on the morning of 
August 2d, the expedition proceeded southward towards 
Cape York, the last point of communication, passing the Cary 
Islands, at a distance of from twenty to thirty miles, and 
reached Saunders Island at 9.20 in the evening, where they 
landed and made a camp. As the sequel showed, it was most 
unfortunate that the circumstances should have seemed to 
require such a decision, for if the boats had gone to Cary 
Island, or if, in accordance with the suggestion previously 
made by Colwell, and renewed by him at this time, one of 
them lightly equipped and provided with a picked crew had 
gone there, the whole year's work might have borne a dif- 
ferent aspect. To understand this fact, it will be necessary 
to return to the movements of the Yantic. 

After the departure of the Proteus from Disko, on July 
15th, the Yantic, which had arrived on the 12th, was de- 
tained six days by repairs of the boiler. After a further 
delay of two days on account of bad weather, she left God- 
havn for Bittenbenk and Kudliscet, where she stopped for 
coal. Proceeding on without incident, she arrived at TTper- 
nivik on July 27th, late in the evening. 

The orders of the Department to Commander Wildes di- 
rected him, in cruising to the northward, to rely to a certain 
extent upon the ice-pilot, and upon the information given by 
the Danish authorities at Disko and Upernivik. as to the 



80 Tlie Mescue of Greely. 

probable movements of the ice. Governor Eiborg, of TTper- 
nivik, informed him that the previous winter had been mild, 
the prevailing winds having been southwest, and that he 
thought it likely there was little ice in Melville Bay, and 
that what there was would be close to the land. 

The Yantic remained at Upernivik from 10 p.m. July 27th, 
until noon July 31st, waiting for thick foggy weather to clear. 
Upon leaving his anchorage, Wildes found that the predic- 
tions of the governor were correct. The Duck Islands were 
reached early on the morning of August 1st, and the ship 
headed across the bay. From noon until 8 in the evening 
she was in a thick fog, but she held steadily on her course, 
and by one o'clock the next morning she was in sight of Cape 
Tork. During the passage she had met streams of loose ice, 
and had seen the pack to the northward, but had not found 
it on her course. At Cape York the land-ice extended fifteen 
miles off shore, and the pack fifteen miles beyond, stretching 
along the coast as far as could be seen from the crow's-nest. 
It was therefore decided not to stop at the Cape, although it 
had been designated in the agreement with Garlington as 
one of the communicating stations ; nor indeed had the 
Proteus done so on her way up. It may be suggested here 
that Cape York, though a good place for a cairn on account 
of its prominence, is very apt to be surrounded by ice, and 
that Conical Rock is much more accessible. Skirting closely 
the edge of the pack, and occasionally cutting off a corner, 
or driving through a lead, the ITantic continued on during 
the morning of the 2d, only impeded by a fog. By noon 
it had cleared, Cape York had been rounded, and the ship 
was headed directly for the second of the post-offices named 
in the agreement, the Southeast Cary Island. 



Tlie Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus. 81 

"Wildes reached the island at 9.30 p.m., August 2d, landed, 
and examined the cairn. Here he found the record left by 
the Proteus on the 21st of July. He also examined the English 
depot, which he found in good condition. Having made his 
examination and left a record, he got under way at 10.30 p.m., 
the weather being very fine, and steamed to the northward. 

It was on the morning of this very day, the 2d of August, 
that Garlington and his party, with the crew of the Proteus, 
had left the camp seven miles north of Cape Parry, where 
they had passed two days, and where the question of going to 
the post-office at Cary Island had been decided adversely. 
The three points — Cape Parry, Cary Island, and Saunders 
Island, form the vertices of a nearly equilateral triangle, with 
its northern apex at Cape Parry, Saunders Island lying to 
the southeast, well in with the coast, and Cary Island to the 
southwest. Had Garlington, instead of going southeast to 
Saunders Island, where there was no reason to suppose the 
Yantio would touch, and where he arrived at 9.20 p.m. on 
this memorable day, gone to the southwest to Cary Island, 
where there was every reason to suppose the Yantio would 
touch, if she came up, and where he would have arrived in 
nearly the same length of time, the boats and the reserve 
vessel would have met beyond a doubt, the party would have 
been landed on Littleton Island for the winter, as Garlington 
desired, and the disaster of the next spring would in all hu- 
man probability have been averted. The Yantic arrived at 
Cary Island at 9.30, ten minutes after the boats arrived at Saun- 
ders Island. Even without this extraordinary coincidence, by 
which it seemed as if the fates had placed the issue in such 
certain hues that nothing short of a miracle could have pre- 
vented a meeting, if the boats had reached and left the 
6 



82 T7ie Rescue of Greely. 

post-office before the ITantic arrived, the latter would have 
been enabled from the indications in the record to have fol- 
lowed and found them by the next day. 

In reference to tins, one of the most important decisions 
taken on the return voyage, Garlington, in his report, gives 
no reason existing in his own mind for his action. As far as 
the report shows, he depended entirely on the judgment of 
Lieutenant Colwell. He says: "After consulting with 
Lieutenant Colwell, I decided not to go to Cary Island as 
originally intended. He thought it would be extremely 
hazardous with our heavily laden boats. We left this camp 
at 8.30 a.m. August 2d." . This apparently settled, the 
matter. 

The decision was a result of the arrangement by which a 
landsman found himself in command of a nautical expedi- 
tion, with a nautical subordinate. When a nautical question 
arises, — and all the questions upon which success or failure 
depended would probably be nautical, — the non-profession- 
al commander abdicates his responsibility and throws it on 
his professional assistant. Whether the latter, had he been 
in the position of responsible command, would have been 
unable to reach the place of meeting, is another question. 
Hal Colwell been permitted to carry out the suggestion 
made by him at Cape Sabine, and renewed before leaving 
Cape Parry, of proceeding alone to the place of communica- 
tion, he would certainly have effected his object, for it is 
clear that the man who successfully accomplished two weeks 
later the passage across Melville Bay in a single boat, would 
have found no serious difficulty in making his way from 
Cape Parry to Cary Island. 

The ship and the boats were now moving in opposite direc- 



The Retreat from tlte Wreck of the Proteus. 83 

tions. The retreating party in the boats, leaving a record 
on Saunders Island, pursued their way southward with great 
difficulty and with frequent delays from the ice. When in 
the neighborhood of Cape York on the 9th of August Col- 
well with a party of five men took the light punt belonging 
to the Proteus and set out over the ice to the Eskimo settle- 
ments to find out whether anything had been seen of passing 
vessels. He rejoined the main party next day after having 
seen the natives, but no ship had been seen at Cape York. 
IS r o more definite information could be obtained. Other Es- 
kimo were afterward met and questioned, with a like result. 

Garlington remained about Cape York until the 16th. 
It was decided that Lieutenant Colwell, taking one of the 
whale-boats, should leave the main party and make directly 
across the bay to Disko, to reach the JTantic before she pro- 
ceeded south ; while Garlington in the other boat, accompa- 
nied by the boatswain and the rest of the relief party, should 
remain with the people of the Proteus and proceed to Uper- 
nivik, keeping as close in to the land as possible on the out- 
side of the ice. This plan was carried out. 

Meanwhile the Y'antic, having left Cary Island at half- 
past ten on the 2d of August, steamed up the eastern side of 
Smith Sound and arrived the next afternoon at Littleton Isl- 
and. Here Garlington's record of July 26th was found, and 
the first news was obtained of the disaster to the Proteus. 
All hands had been saved and the relief party had arrived at 
Littleton Island ; but no statement was made as to the situa- 
tion of the steamer's crew, which, it will be remembered, had 
not touched at Littleton Island on the way south, and of 
whose movements Garlington was at that time in ignorance. 

The question what course of action should be pursued by 



84 The Bescue of Greely. 

Commander "Wildes in the light of the record was not a 
doubtful one. In the first place, the Yantic had positive or- 
ders not to go north of Littleton Island, and therefore she 
could not supply the place of the wrecked Proteus and pro- 
ceed on the latter's unfulfilled mission to Lady Franklin Bay ; 
nor had it ever been intended or thought possible that she 
should. Secondly, to carry out the agreement with Garling- 
ton and remain at Littleton Island till August 25th would 
now be wholly futile, as Garlington was on his way south. 
There was therefore only one course to pursue, namely, 
to follow the traces of the relief party, and overtake and 
bring them back as soon as possible. The plan outlined 
by Garlington was not very clear, as he merely said that he 
was " making for the south to communicate with the Yan- 
tic." The agreement made at St. John's, even if it had not 
suggested a course of action with a view to the actual state of 
events, would naturally, however, be reverted to by both par- 
ties in the absence of other information. It was fair to pre- 
sume that if Garlington was endeavoring to communicate, 
he would make the endeavor at one of the previously estab 
lished points of communication. In view of these facts, the 
Yantic followed what was clearly a correct course, and went 
in search of the retreating boats, to ascertain something of 
the missing crew of the Proteus, and to pick up the relief 
party, which might then be landed with provisions upon Lit- 
tleton Island. 

The Yantic, therefore, put in first into Pandora Harbor. 
There she found the two records left by Garlington and by 
Captain Pike. The former stated that the party had forty 
days' full rations, and that he would "go south, keeping close 
into shore as possible, and calling at Cary Islands, to Cape 



The Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus. 85 

York, or until I meet some vessel. Hope to meet U. S. S. 
Yantic or the Swedish steamer Sofia, which should be about 
Cape York." 

In accordance with these instructions, Commander "Wildes 
set out with his vessel in pursuit of the boats. Following 
the directions in the record, and at the same time keeping 
the general agreement, the Yantic, after running down the 
coast to Cape Robertson, stood across Murchison Sound to 
Hakluyt Island. The island was closely examined, but nothing 
was found, as Garlington had not visited it. From Hakluyt 
Island the Yantic struck across to the mainland, nearing the 
coast at a point seven miles east of Cape Parry, which must 
have been about the spot where Garlington camped on the 
31st of July, and from which he set out on the 2d of August 
for Saunders Island. Running over in four hours from this 
point, Wildes reached Cary Island at midnight of August 
4th, but he found that it had not been visited, and his record 
of two clays before had not been disturbed. 

The situation was now a perplexing one. It was not likely 
that the five boats could be lost, nor did it seem possible 
that they could have gene south without touching at Cary 
Island, after the explicit statement made in the record at 
Pandora Harbor. The only other supposition was that they 
had been missed on the way down, and all that could be done 
by the Yantic was to go once more over the ground, and make 
a more careful search. She therefore ran back to Hakluyt 
Island, and then across to Cape Parry, following the shore 
closely southwards. In these movements, her progress was 
checked from time to time by the ice, or by threatening 
weather. Thus it happ3ned that in this last southerly course, 
along the shore, she arrived on the 5th of August at a point 



86 The Rescue of Greely. 

five miles northwest of Saunders Island, to which place Grar- 
lington had proceeded three days before, and which he had 
only left on the afternoon of the 4th, after depositing a 
record. If the Yantic had continued on her course she 
would have been but a clay behind the boats, and would have 
reached them in a few hours to a certainty. In fact, at this 
very moment, Garlington and his party were near Cape 
Athol, at a point seventeen miles from Saunders Island, and 
therefore twenty-two miles from the Yantic, or less than 
four hours' steaming ; and here they remained until the Yth. 
But the ice was thickening ahead, and the pack to the west- 
ward extending in, the wind was "fresh from the north, and 
foo; hancriuo; low down," so the Yantic ran off shore to the 
southwest, and then stood back to Whale Sound. 

The game of cross-purposes which the two parties had 
been playing for several days in lower Smith Sound now 
came to an end, and the only chance of their meeting was 
at the final rendezvous at Cape York. On the Gth of Au- 
gust, at 5.30 a.m., the Yantic came to anchor off Northum- 
berland Island. Commander Wildes states in his report : 
" I determined to remain here a few days to await the mov- 
ing off shore of the ice or a loosening up of the pack so 
[that] I could get through." On the evening of the same 
day, a party of officers from the Yantic, in searching North- 
umberland Island, came upon the remains of a camp appar- 
ently a week old, with tin cans and matches strewn about, 
showing that it had been a station of the relief party. Next 
day another camp was found on the same island, which was 
surmised to be that of the crew of the Proteus. This was 
1hc first trace that had been found, but there was no record. 
It was clear that the boats had gone south, and that in all 



The Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus. 87 

probability they were now in the neighborhood of Cape 
York. 

The Y antic remained at her anchorage for three days, her 
search having now apparently terminated. Late on the 9th she 
made her way again to Cary Island. Here she ran in close 
to the cove, and fired guns, but received no response, and 
"Wildes headed for Cape York. 

It was unfortunate that the Yantic on her first arrival at 
Littleton Island, or at some time during the next seven days, 
when she was knocking about lower Smith Sound, although 
her orders contained no directions on this point, did not land 
on the island some part of her abundant store of provisions, 
when it was learned that nothing had been done for Greely's 
relief beyond the establishment of the wreck cache at Cape 
Saline. It is true, that as it turned out, Greely never crossed 
to Littleton Island, but remained eight months at Cape Sa- 
bine, and he would therefore have derived no benefit from a 
whole ship-load of stores on the east coast. But nobody could 
foresee this, and there was every reason to suppose he would 
go there. It is also true that it had never been expected that 
the Yantic should carry stores for the expedition, or that she 
would be of any service except as a tender to the Proteus. 
But if, notwithstanding the absence of any directions to that 
end, the Yantic had gone beyond her orders, beyond the 
sphere for which the Signal Office had intended her, and to 
which the Navy Department had assigned her, and had seized 
the extraordinary opportunity which had fallen to her, of re- 
trieving in some sense the disaster which had already oc- 
curred, through no fault of her own, it would have been a 
most happy occurrence ; and if, in addition to leaving the 
stores, a party of volunteers had been found from hor own 



88 Tlie Rescue of Greely. 

people — and it has been officially stated that they were forth- 
coming — and had been landed on the island, it is more than 
probable that the tarrying of the explorers at Cape Sabine, 
during the next year, would have been without its fatal con- 
sequences. Had a fresh party of seamen with boats under a 
competent officer been there through the fall and winter, 
" keeping their telescopes fixed on Cape Sabine and the land 
to the northward," there is small doubt that they would at 
some time during those weary months have discovered the 
party which they had stayed to rescue, and have found a time 
and a way to cross the twenty-three miles between the cape 
and the island, whatever might have been the condition of 
the ice or the currents. 

After leaving Cary Island for the last time to make her 
way to Cape York, the Y~antic ran close in to the ice near 
Cape Dudley Digges, but could find no opening ; the ice 
was packed close, and reached to the land some distance off. 
Cape York lay around the bend of the shore, forty miles 
further on. It was the last place of communication men- 
tioned in the agreement, and it was the final objective point 
designated by Garlington in the record at Pandora Harbor. 
There was every reason to believe that at this time he was in 
that neighborhood. He actually arrived at Cape York with 
the boats on the 10th of August, and here, or near here, he 
remained till the 16th. At noon of the 10th — the day that 
Garlington arrived — " having ice," says Commander Wildes 
in his report, " in all directions except S.E., and unable to 
see but a short distance in that direction, the land being 
unapproachable, our supply of coal greatly diminished, the 
imprudence of remaining in this vicinity became sufficiently 
obvious, and I bore up for Upernivik, which was reached 
August 12th." 



The Retreat from the Wreck of the Proteus. 89 

The failure to meet at Cary Island finds its parallel in tlie 
failure to meet at Cape York. It is not a little singular that 
by a coincidence in dates as remarkable as that which had 
occurred eight days before, the Yantic passed the final ren- 
dezvous at the very time when the party which she had been 
seeking arrived there ; and it was correspondingly unfortu- 
nate that as the attendant circumstances in the first case pre- 
vented the boats from falling in with the Yantic, in the sec- 
ond case they prevented the Yantic or her people from 
meeting the shipwrecked party in the boats. 

While at Upernivik a launch was chartered, and sent to 
Tassuisak with provisions. A boat with a crew of Eskimo 
was sent on to Cape Shackleton, to keep a lookout for the 
lost expedition. After lying ten days at Upernivik, Com- 
mander Wildes decided on the 22d to leave the place, as stated 
in his report : 

"Aug. 22d. The short summer of this high latitude being at an end, 
the weather having changed, vegetation having become brown and with- 
ered, the birds having departed with their young, ice and frost forming 
each night, the intervals of good weather becoming rarer, the autumn 
gales being liable to set in at any time, and knowing that the first one of 
any severity would put the ship on the rocks, as the only holding ground 
was bare rock, feeling that I was incurring great risk, increasing daily 
by remaining longer, I got under way and proceeded to the Kudliscet coal 
cliffs in Waigat Straits." 

Taking on board fifty tons of coal at the coal cliffs, the 
Yantic proceeded on to Godhavn, where she arrived on the 
28th. 

It only remains to follow the fortunes of the two boat par- 
ties. They had separated near Cape York, Garlington's boat 
remaining with the crew of the Proteus, and Col well's has- 
tening alone directly across the Bay. Garlington's party 



90 The Rescue of Greely. 

took a more northerly course, following tlie trend of the shore, 
and, stopping at the islands on their way, arrived off Cape 
Shackleton a week after the separation. Here they saw 
smoke-signals, and heading for the land, they were met by 
the Eskimo whom Gov. Elborg had sent north to establish 
an advanced relief -post. Next day they arrived at Upernivik, 
whence the Yantle had departed two days before. 

The other boat under Colwell, taking a more southerly 
course, set out alone on its journey across Melville Bay — a 
journey which takes a place among the best work done by 
Arctic explorers. For perseverance, good judgment, and 
courage in the officer who accomplished it almost single- 
handed, it could not well be outdone. After separating from 
the rest of the party on the afternoon of August lGth, Col- 
well steered south-southeast for Upernivik. Meeting a pack 
which extended to the northward and eastward, he moved 
oif to the southward, so that he might just keep within its 
broken edge. The wind gradually increased to a gale, with 
frequent snow-squalls. Inside the edge of the pack there 
was a heavy swell, but the seas did not break. In the after- 
noon the southern edge of the pack seemed to trend off to 
the northeast, and the boat left the ice, resuming her course 
for Upernivik. Soon after clearing the pack, the wind in- 
creased, and Colwell, unable longer to steer his course, was 
obliged to run before the gale and the short, heavy, break- 
ing sea. Three of his men were hopelessly sea-sick, and the 
Eskimo too frightened to understand English, so that his 
crew was reduced to two men, who, fortunately, stood well 
to their work. 

The gale kept up through the afternoon and evening until 
near midnight, when the weather cleared a little ; but an 



The Retreat from the Wreck of tJte Proteus. 91 

hour later it was again overcast, with every now and then a 
thick flurry of snow. Toward morning the wind moderated, 
and Colwell, giving the tiller to one of his men, lay down 
for two hours during a heavy snow-storm. Breakfast was 
made off a pot of tea and some canned meat, warmed by 
burning alcohol in a tin can, and it was the first thing the 
crew had eaten since starting, except bits of wet hard-tack. 

After breakfast, the wind hauling to the southward and 
eastward, Colwell shook out his reef and set the mainsail, 
making an easterly course on a wind. The sea was rough, 
but did not break. Toward noon the wind increased, and 
the outlook was threatening. Both sails were close-reefed, 
but soon it became necessary to take in the mainsail. The 
sea was now rising, and Colwell headed for a small island in 
sight to the northeast, but missed it in a blinding snow- 
squall. "When this passed he found himself a mile to lee- 
ward of the island, with the sea too heavy to pull against, and 
he ran for a line of ice further on, and made fast to a small 
berg. This was at three in the afternoon. 

The second gale kept up for nine hours, with constantly 
increasing wind and sea. Four times the boat was cast off 
to find a safer place, as the icebergs broke or drifted down. 
Finally she was made fast to a flat berg, which lasted until the 
gale was over, although the breaking off of great lumps had 
reduced it by that time to one-third of its former size. It 
was a fearful night ; the boat was filled with snow, and the 
icebergs drove past her before the gale, crash after crash re- 
sounding on all sides as they ground together or foundered. 
While the boat was fast, the bow oarsman had to stand with 
his axe ready to cut the painter. The crew, exhausted from 
loss of sleep and sea-sickness, wet to the skin, and covered 



92 TJie Rescue of Greely. 

■with snow, had sat for fourteen hours on the thwarts with 
the oars out, ready to pull at a moment's notice, and dozed 
over their oars as they might. Soon after midnight ColweU 
lighted his alcohol fire again, and warmed some bacon and 
tea, which, with a little whisky, kept up his men's strength 
during the night. 

Toward five o'clock on the morning of the 18th, the clouds 
broke and the wind moderated. The boat was now near 
Thorn Island. To the north the bergs, driven together by 
the gale, were packed in a wall as solid as a glacier's face. 
During the forenoon the boat pulled among icebergs against 
a moderate head wind, and Col well got a couple of hours' 
rest. In the afternoon, a light northeast breeze coming up, 
he made sail to it, during the rest of the day, and allowed 
his wearied men to sleep. 

In the night the wind increased, and hauled to the south. 
Nothing could be made by working to windward, and Col- 
well gave it up and took in sail, trying to pull to the east- 
ward. But by morning the wind and sea were too much for 
the exhausted men, and ColweU ran back to a small rocky 
islet which he had passed some hours before, and lighting 
an alcohol fire, got a meal, after which the men stretched 
themselves on the rocks for a nap. 

The wind fell light a little before noon, and the boat started 
again. It was now the 19th of August. For the next three 
days and nights the party continued on their way to the 
southward, through bergs and lump ice, with the Greenland 
coast generally in sight; sailing when the wind was fair, 
which was about half the time, and during the rest making 
slow progress with the oars. Toward the close of the 22d 
Colwell's reckonings placed him not far from Upernivik, but 



The Retreat from the WrecJc of the Proteus. 93 

a dense fog that had hung over him all day prevented him 
from finding out exactly his position. At six o'clock on this 
evening while skirting the coast, a barrel was discovered on 
shore, and the sight had an exhilarating effect upon the party. 
After they had gone a little way without finding a settlement, 
they returned to the spot, landed, kindled a fire with the bar- 
rel, and cooked a meal from the best they had. After two 
or three hours of rest they were again under way, and at two 
o'clock on the morning of the 23d they sighted a storehouse, 
which proved to be on the north side of ITpernivik. 

Pulling round the island, the party landed at five o'clock 
in the morning. Here everything was done for their com- 
fort. Col well found that the other boats from the Proteus 
had not been heard from, and that the Yantio had sailed for 
Disko the day before. "Wishing to lose no time in commu- 
nicating with Commander Wildes, he would hear of no delay, 
and, taking a heavy open launch which the Governor of 
Upernivik urged him to use in place of the whale-boat, at 
three o'clock on the afternoon of the same day he started 
south with his boat's crew for Disko, distant 230 miles. 

The journey to Disko took seven days and a half, the men 
rowing most of the way, although it was hard work in the 
launch after the light whale-boat. A stop of a few hours was 
made at the rettlement of Proven to get provisions and water. 
At Noursoak natives were employed to go ahead in their 
kayaks with a letter to "Wildes. Finally, on the 31st, after a 
passage through Waigat Strait, the launch arrived at Disko, 
and Colwell and his exhausted party, after their journey of 
800 miles, were taken on board the Yantic. 

On the evening of the same day the Yantic got under 
way and returned to Upernivik, where she arrived on the 2d 



9-4 The Rescue of GrccJy. 

of September, and found the remainder of the expedition, 
which had come in on the day after Colwell had gone. The 
junction which had been barely missed so many times on the 
coast of lower Smith Sound was now effected ; but the sea- 
son was advanced, and the question of returning across Mel- 
ville Bay to carry out the purpose of the expedition, if con- 
sidered, was decided adversely; and the Yantic returned to 
St. John's. 



CHAPTER VII 

"WHAT WAS TO BE DONE FOR GREELY ? 

St. John's, N. F., Sept. 13. 1883. 
To Chief Signal Officer, JJ. S. A. , Washington : 

It is my painful duty to report total failure of the expedition. The 
Proteus was crushed in pack in latitude 78.52, longitude 74.25, arid sunk 
on the afternoon of the 23d July. My party and crew of ship all saved. 
Made my way across Smith Sound and along eastern shore to Cape 
York ; thence across Melville Bay to Upernivik, arriving there on 24th 
Aug. The Yantic reached Upernivik 2d Sept. and left same day, bring- 
ing entire party here to-day. All well. 

E. A. Garlesgton. 

This was the message that brought the first account of the 
disastrous result of the expedition. It said nothing of Greely, 
and for the moment the country was left in suspense, await- 
ing further light on the particulars of the voyage. Eager tele- 
grams were at once sent to Garlington from the Signal Office 
asking what stores had been placed for Greely. The reply 
was sent the next day : 

" No stores landed before sinking of ship. About five hundred rations 
from those saved, cached at Cape Sabine ; also large cache of clothing. 
By the time suitable vessels could be procured, filled, provisioned, etc., 
it would be too late in season to accomplish anything this year." 

When the fatal news was received, and it was learned not 
only that the relief ship had been lost, which was a small 
matter, but that the whole expedition was abortive, that only 
50) rations, or twenty days' provisions, had been landed from 

(95) 



96 TJie Rescue of Greely. 

the Proteus, there was a general outburst of indignation. As 
the situation began to be looked into and pondered over, it 
gradually churned upon the public that the Lady Franklin 
Bay Expedition had been ordered to leave their well-supplied 
station by Sept. 1st ; that the commander had signified his 
intention of leaving it ; that it was almost a certainty that at 
that date, Sept. 14th, he was on his way south, confidently 
counting on a supply depot and a relief party which had 
been promised at Littleton Island ; and, finally, that he was 
destined shortly to arrive there, with little food, and with no 
possibility of retracing his steps, only to find that the Gov- 
ernment had not carried out its pledge, and that he and his 
command were doomed to starvation and death. 

Unfortunately, through a clerical error, the so-called 
supplementary memorandum which, as related in the last 
chapter, had found its way into the envelope containing Gar- 
lington's original orders, appeared from the records of the 
Signal Office to be a specified enclosure, and therefore part of 
the order itself. The memorandum directed that the P. 
tcus should land her stores on the way north, and Garlington 
having, it will be remembered, called the attention of the 
Chief Signal Officer, before sailing, to the conflict between 
the body of the instructions and the memorandum, had been 
expressly told that the latter " was no part of his orders." 
This fact had never transpired, and in the absence of the 
Chief Signal Officer, there being no mention of it in the 
records, but, on the contrary, a record describing the memo- 
randum as " Enclosure 4 " of the orders to Garlington, the an- 
nouncement was made that the commander of the expedition 
had been ordered to land stores or make a depot before going 
north. The inference was naturally drawn that Garlington had 



What was to he Done for Greely? 97 

disobeyed his orders in this particular, and that to this diso- 
bedience the failure of the expedition was due ; whereas, in 
point of fact, the question of the memorandum had been dis- 
tinctly raised, and it had been distinctly excluded from his 
orders. 

This impression was subsequently corrected, but a long 
and comprehensive inquiry was necessary to thread the in- 
tricacies in which the subject was involved, and clear up the 
confusion wrought in the public mind by the great number 
and variety of statements made in reference to the expedi- 
tion. The findings of the subsequent Court of Inquiry form 
no part of the present narrative, and no reference is made to 
them by way of either dissent or concurrence, further than 
to quote from them an apt statement of the net results of the 
efforts to relieve Greely, — that " from July, 1882, to August, 
1883, not less than 50,000 rations were taken in the steamers 
Neptune, Yantic, and Proteus up to or beyond Littleton 
Island, and of that number only about 1,000 were left in that 
vicinity, the remainder being returned to the United States 
or sunk with the Proteus" 

Long before the question of responsibility was examined, 
indeed on the very day upon which Garlington's first dis- 
patch was received, the more pressing question was consid- 
ered of taking immediate measures to repair the disaster. It 
was with this view that the officers at the Signal Office on that 
day telegraphed Garlington an inquiry whether anything 
more could be done this year, to which he replied, in his 
second telegram quoted above, that by the time suitable ves- 
sels could be procured, filled, and provisioned, it would be too 
late in the season to accomplish anything. Not satisfied with 
this, the Secretaries of "War and of the Navy, both of whom 
7 



OS The Rescue of Greefy. 

now had an interest in the matter, directed thai farther in- 
quiry should be made as to the feasibility o( starting an ex- 
pedition immediately. Lieutenanl Gkrlington replied : " The 
ultimate result of any undertaking to go north at this time 
extremely problematical ; chances against its success, owing 
to dark nights now begun in those regions, making Lee navi- 
gation extremely critical work. There is no Bafe winter an- 
ohorage on west shore of Greenland between Disko and Pan- 
dora Harbor, except perhaps North Star Bay, winter-quar- 
ters o( Saunders. However, there is a bare chance of suc- 
cess, and if my recommendations are approved, I am ready 
and anxious to make the effort My plan is to buy a suitable 
sealer, take the crew from volunteers from crews of Yantio 
and Powhatan, now in this harbor, paying them extra com- 
pensation. Lieutenant J. C. Colwell to command the ship ; 
two Ensigns and one Engineer to be taken from those who 
may volunteer from same ship ; also employ competent ice- 
pilot here." 

On the 15th Commander "Wildes telegraphed in answer 
to the same inquiry, as follows: " To charter another foreign 
ship with foreign crew for this duty to go north at this late 
season would simply invite fresh disaster. JProti its handled 
very unskillfully, and crew behaved shamefully at wreck. 
Ship must be American-manned, and officered by Navy, and 
thoroughly equipped. Unless winter-quarters ean be reached 
north of Cape Athol, the attempt would be useless. This 
ean not be done. Melville Bay will be impassable by October 
1. at latest. Ship ean not winter at [Jpernivik, and ean not 
sledge north from there." 

The Chief Signal Officer sent six telegrams from Washing- 
ton Territory, where he happened to be at the time, BUggest- 



Wliat was to be Done for Greelyf 99 

ing a new expedition, and earnestly advocating immediate 
action, being of the opinion that there was still time to repair 
the failure. Chief Engineer Melville, of the Navy, about the 
same time, submitted a plan for a relief expedition, proposing 
to accomplish part of the journey in the Yantic, and the 
rest by sledge. Others, however, whose experience entitled 
their opinion to weight, among them Dr. Laws, the surgeon 
of the Relief Expedition of 1855, and Tyson, who was with 
Hall in the Polaris, were decided in the conviction that an 
expedition at that time would only lead to fresh disaster. 
After repeated consultations with the most competent and 
experienced advisers, the Secretaries decided that it would 
not only be useless to make any attempt that year, but that 
the probabilities were that those who were sent on such a 
mission would find themselves in a situation as bad as Greely's. 
The idea was therefore abandoned. 

The information gained at the Greenland ports by the 
Relief Expedition of 1884, proves beyond a doubt that this 
conclusion was right. Had a ship gone up in the latter part 
of September, 1883, she would either have been stopped at 
Disko, or have been frozen up for eight months in the ice of 
Melville Bay. The cold weather set in about the 21st of 
September, and the temperature steadily fell at Disko, Uper- 
nivik, and Tassuisak, until 60° below zero was reached. This 
continued for a period of sixty consecutive days. Melville 
Bay, as far as could be seen from these three points, was 
frozen over early in October. As the season of continual 
darkness had come on by this time, nav : gation would have 
been well-nigh impossible, even if the bay had been fairly 
open ; and the project of reaching the party by sledges 
must be regarded as utterly chimerical. Under the circum- 



100 The Rescue of Greely. 

stances, any vessel attempting the voyage would have come 
to grief, if she had not been totally lost. 

The idea of an immediate expedition having been reluc- 
tantly given up as impracticable, the next question was to 
consider carefully the probable situation of Lieutenant Greely 
and his command, and to prepare a well-digested plan of 
operations for the coming summer. 

In regard to Greely's situation in October, 1883, it was 
known that a little more than two years before, in August, 
1881, he had been landed at Discovery Harbor with a full 
supply of provisions for three years, with a considerable mar- 
gin over. He was therefore amply provided with the means 
of subsistence, if he remained at the station. He had, however, 
been directed in the original instructions of the Signal Office, if 
not visited in 1882, to abandon his station not later than 
September 1, 1883, and to retreat southward by boat, follow- 
ing closely the east coast of Grinnell Land, " until the re- 
lieving vessel is met or Littleton Island is reached." He had 
been assured in the same letter that, if no vessel reached him 
in 1882, the vessel sent in 1883 would remain in Smith 
Sound until there was danger of its being closed by ice, and 
on leaving would land her supplies on Littleton Island, to- 
gether with a party which would be prepared for a winter's 
stay, and would be instructed to send sledge parties up the 
east coast of Grinnell Land to meet him. Finally he had not 
only concurred in all the arrangements, but had written a 
letter from Fort Conger giving his last suggestions for the 
party which was to be left at Littleton Island, saying that 
they should " establish a winter station at Polaris winter 
quarters, Lifeboat Cove, where their main duty would be 
to keep their telescopes on Cape Sabine and the land to the 



What was to he Done for Oreely? 101 

northward"; and further, that a detachment "should pro- 
ceed, when practicable, to Cape Sabine, whence a sledge party 
northward of two best fitted men should reach Cape Hawks, if 
not Cape Collinson." Depots were to be made, by the first ex- 
pedition, at the furthest possible northern point on the coast 
of Grinnell Land, and at Littleton Island ; by the second ex- 
pedition, between Cape Sabine and Bache Island, and. at some 
point intermediate between depots already established. 

It was perfectly clear from this what Greely intended to 
do, and what in the absence of preventing causes, in all 
probability he had done. He intended to leave Fort Conger 
in 1883, and go southward to his main base of supplies at 
Littleton Island. He also proposed to line the shore with 
smaller depots, placed at intervals, so that he could find, at 
each successive point, enough to sustain his party until the 
next was reached. How far he would progress on this 
downward trip was a matter of uncertainty, and he counted 
upon the relief party to come up and meet him in case he 
was for any reason detained between Cape Collinson and 
Cape Sabine. There was little doubt, therefore, in the fall 
of 1883, that Greely had carried out his programme, left 
Fort Conger, and proceeded south. The only uncertain 
element in the question was how far he had been able to go. 

In order to reach Littleton Island he would have to travel 
263 miles. His party consisted of twenty-five, and he had 
taken up with him a !Navy steam-launch, and three other 
boats, suitable for navigation in Arctic waters. There were 
also two boats of which, in case of necessity, he could avail 
himself ; one an ice-boat left by the Nares expedition at 
Polaris Bay, twenty -eight miles from his camp, and the other 
a whale-boat, left by the Polaris near Cape Sumner, tlnrty- 



102 The Rescue of Greely. 

eight miles off. The most favorable season for boat naviga- 
tion, or, as far as that is concerned, for any navigation, in 
Kennedy Channel and Kane Sea, is during the month of 
August, and it was therefore probable that the expedition 
would move at this time. 

The distribution of depots on the way down, as far as was 
known, was not all that Greely had planned or asked for, 
but it was still fairly complete, unless he met with some ex- 
traordinary misadventure. The longest interval was the first, 
of 75 miles, between Camp Conger and Carl Bitter Bay. It 
turned out afterwards that Greely himself, with the careful 
forethought that distinguished his arrangements, had reduced 
this gap by making a depot at Cape Cracroft, an intermediate 
point which he could reach from his station. At Carl Bitter 
Bay, the next point, Greely had established a depot of 225 
rations, or nine days' supply, on his way up in the Proteus. 
Sixty-two miles beyond, at Cape Collinson, was the Nares 
depot, of 250 rations. Following the western shore of Kane 
Sea, the fourth depot was to be found at Cape Hawks. This 
had been made by ISTares, and had originally consisted of 
1,500 rations, but the Alert and Discovery had taken off 
most of the stores on their return trip, and the quantity left 
was not great, perhaps eight or ten days' rations. Greely had 
visited it on the way up, and had taken from it an inconsider- 
able quantity of stores. At Cape Sabine, fifty -three miles 
further, were several depot-, roughly estimated as amounting 
to 1,000 rations in all, or forty days' supply, if they were all 
well preserved. They were in three caches. That of the 
English expedition on Stalknecht Island in Payer Harbor 
consisted of 250 rations, which Beebe had reported as being 
for the most part good, but which were subsequently found 



What was to he Done for Greely ? 103 

to be damaged. The Beebe cache contained about 250 ra- 
tions, with a whale-boat, and one-eighth of a cord of wood. 
This Garlington had found in good condition, except a 
slight injury to the boat. The third cache was composed 
of the provisions rescued by Colwell from the wreck of the 
Proteus, estimated at 500 rations. 

South of Cape Sabine there were three depots. At Little- 
ton Island, twenty-three miles distant, on the opposite shore of 
Smith Sound, was the second Beebe cache of 250 rations, and 
six tons of coal, placed there by Greely. At Cape Isabella, 
twenty-five miles from Cape Sabine, was Beebe's second 
whale-boat, together with 150 pounds of meat left by the 
English expedition. Finally, at Southeast Cary Island, one 
hundred miles to the southward, was the largest depot of all, 
also made by Nares, with 1,800 rations and a boat, which had 
been examined both by Greely and Garlington, and which 
were still good when visited by the Sear in 1884. 

As the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition was an Army or- 
ganization, it belonged to the War Department to take the 
initial steps looking to its relief, whoever might ultimately 
be charged with the execution of the project. Accordingly, 
on the 13th of December, Secretary Lincoln addressed a 
letter to Secretary Chandler, asking the co-operation of the 
Navy Department in considering and carrying out a plan. 
The Secretary of the Navy responded promptly, and within 
a week the President issued an order, constituting the Greelv 
Belief Board. This was the first step in the history of the 
final expedition. The order was as follows : 

Executive Mansion, December 17, 1883. 
The following-named officers of the Army and Navy will constitute a 
board to consider an expedition to be sent for the relief of Lieutenant 



104 The Rescue of Greely. 

Greely and his party, comprising what is known as the Lady Frank- 
lin Bay Expedition, and to recommend to the Secretaries of War and the 
Navy, jointly, the steps the board may consider necessary to betaken for 
the equipment and transportation of the relief expedition, and to suggest 
such plan for its control and conduct, and for the organization of its per- 
aonnei, as may seem to them best adapted to accomplish its purpose : 
Brigadier-General William B. Hazex, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army; 
Captain James A. Greer, U. S. Navy ; Lieutenant-Commander B. II. 
3IcCalla, U. S. Navy ; Captain George W. Davis, 14th Infantry, U. 
S. Army. 
The board will meet in Washington, D. C, on the 20th instant. 

Chester A. Arthur. 

The Board met on the 20th of December, and remained in 
session until January 22, 1884, when its final report was 
presented, although it did not formally adjourn until Febru- 
ary 21st. On the second day of its meetings, it presented a 
preliminary recommendation, that immediate steps should 
be taken to secure, by purchase, two full-powered steam 
whalers or sealers, and to prepare them for service in the 
Arctic. It was also recommended that a naval vessel should 
be prepared to act as a tender to the expedition. 

Three general plans were laid before the Board at the be- 
ginning. The first, presented by Lieutenant Garlington, 
proposed the purchase of a steam-whaler as a relief ship, and 
the selection of a convoying vessel from the list of third-rate 
cruisers in the Navy. The plan submitted included the sug- 
gestion that the expedition should be commanded by Lieuten- 
ant Garlington, and the relief ship by Lieutenant Colwell. 
The commander of the convoying vessel was not designated. 
The relief ship was to be pushed forward at the opening of 
the season, and to land a party at Cape York, which would 
proceed north by sledge, if it was learned that the explorers 
had arrived on the Greenland coast, meeting the relief ship 



Wliat was to he Done for Greelyf 105 

at Pandora Harbor. If no tidings were obtained at Cape 
York, the ship should proceed to Littleton Island, and thence 
to Cape Sabine, where a large depot should be established, 
and a sledge party be sent north, to be followed by the ship 
as soon as the ice permitted. The convoying ship was to 
have positive orders to proceed as far north as Cape Sabine, 
and her movements were to be regulated by " the discretion 
of the commanding officers." In addition to the general 
plan, many details of importance were provided for. 

The second plan, presented by Lieutenant-Commander 
McCalla, proposed a purely naval expedition, the ships com- 
posing it to consist of two purchased sealers or whalers, with 
a naval vessel as a tender. The first vessel should make a 
complete depot at Littleton Island before proceeding north, 
with house, coal, provisions, and clothing for the whole party 
for a year. If the explorers were not found after a search 
of the shores of Smith Sound, the ship should advance to 
Lady Franklin Bay, or as far as possible in that direction, 
while the second vessel should be used as a reserve, going 
north of Kane Sea only in case the first should be lost or her 
absence be prolonged. The tender was to proceed to Little- 
ton Island, to bring back news of the expedition, and in case 
of a general disaster to serve as a second reserve. 

The third plan, presented by Captain Davis, was to some 
extent a middle course between the other two, and provided 
for a whaler as the relief ship, with a naval tender, the whole 
expedition to be in command of a naval officer, and the 
officers and crew proper of each ship to be from the 
personnel of the Navy. Each vessel was also to carry a 
detachment from the Army, composed of two officers, a 
doctor, and ten enlisted men. This plan, like the others, 
presented several excellent features of detail. 



10G The Rescue of Greehj. 

In considering these and other plans, several of which were 
subsequently offered, the Board consulted a number of per- 
sons having Arctic experience, who appeared at its invitation, 
and gave it the benefit of their observation and experience. 
Among these were Lieutenants Garlington and Colwell ; Dr. 
Bessels and Captain Tyson, of the Polaris expedition ; Mr. 
George Kemian, who had passed several years in north- 
eastern Siberia ; Chief Engineer Melville and Lieutenant 
Danenhower, of the Jeannette ; Lieutenant Ray, who com- 
manded the station at Point Barrow ; Lieutenants Berry and 
Hunt, of the Rodgers ; and Captain Pike, of the Proteus. 
Advice and suggestions were also asked from Sir George 
Nares, Captain Markham, and Major Feilden, who had served 
in the Alert in 1875, and an elaborate and extremely valuable 
memorandum was drawn up by these officers for the use of 
the Board. 

After making a most complete and thorough examination, 
the Board, on the 22d of January, 1SS-A, presented its report, 
containing a plan for the expedition. Although there was 
every reason to suppose that Greely and his party had left 
their station, and had probably succeeded in reaching Smith 
Sound, either at Cape Sabine or Littleton Island, it was 
necessary to assume that they might have remained in their 
quarters, and to provide for a cruise extending to Lady 
Franklin Bay. As this might involve detention in the ice 
until another season, the expedition must be prepared for a 
winter in the Arctic. By way of making assurance doubly 
sure, it was recommended that the expedition should consist 
of two vessels, each supplied for a cruise of two years, not 
only for its own crew, but also for that of the other ship, and 
for the Greely party besides. The best ships for the work 



Wliat was to oe Done for Greelyf 107 

were the Dundee whalers, or the Newfoundland sealers, of 
from 500 to 600 tons, two of which should be purchased im- 
mediately, and brought to a navy-yard to be fitted out. In 
view of the possibility of delay in securing or getting ready 
these vessels, it might be advisable to use a third ship for an 
early advance, in order that by taking greater risks than the 
two others, it might be enabled, if the party had reached 
Smith Sound or the Danish settlements, to effect an early 
rescue. A naval vessel was also to be provided to go to 
Littleton Island, and return the same year. The advance 
vessel was not deemed an essential part of the plan, and in 
fact no such vessel was employed ; nor, as the result showed, 
would it have been of any use, for the first of the relief ves- 
sels, although starting a week in advance, was overtaken by 
the second at TJpernivik, having been unable to get beyond 
that point in the heavy ice still covering Melville Bay. 

As the work of the relief expedition was to be of a nautical 
character, the Board recommended that its control should be 
entrusted to the Navy Department. The crews were re- 
duced to a minimum, in order to give abundant air-space in 
case of wintering at the north. The total complement of 
each ship was fixed at thirty-four persons, the preference 
being given to Americans, and all being subjected to a rigor- 
ous medical examination. 

A general programme was marked out for the relief ships, 
but chiefly by way of suggestion. The problem of reaching 
Lady Franklin Bay from Cape Sabine was one that could 
only be solved by sound judgment and good seamanship ; 
unless indeed it should happen that Kane Sea was nearly 
free from ice, in which case it was a comparatively simple 
matter. It was, therefore, recognized that a wide discretion 
must be given to the commanding officer on the spot. 



108 Tlie Rescue of Greely. 

The Board considered carefully the details of Arctic 
equipment, clothing, and stores, and made full and valuable 
recommendations. The information which it collected, and 
the suggestions which it made in reference to these matters 
were afterwards of incalculable service iu fitting out the ex- 
pedition. 

The report, of the Board was unanimous upon all the 
points mentioned, but it was unable to come to an agree- 
ment in regard to the question whether or not a detachment 
from the Army should accompany the expedition. As 
opinion was equally divided, separate memoranda containing 
the views of both sides were submitted with the report, one 
advocating the employment of a detachment of enlisted men 
from the Army, the other that the expedition should be ex- 
clusively naval. 

The latter view was that approved by the two Secretaries, 
and finally carried out. There can be no doubt of the cor- 
rectness of the theory upon which this decision was based. 
The work of the relief expedition of 1SS4 — and for that 
matter, of all the ielief expeditions — was as purely nautical 
as any work that was ever entrusted to a seaman. More 
than this, the whole issue of the work, the ultimate question 
of success or failure, depended primarily upon seamanship. 
Nor was there any possible contingency which would require 
in the personnel of the expedition qualities or experience 
other than those winch seamen will be found to possess at 
least equally with soldiers. It was not an expedition like 
Groely's, which was to remain at a permanent station making 
observations and explorations from its base, either on the 
land or close by it; nor was it in any way similar to the 
wonderful enterprise which Lieutenant Schwatka undertook 
and carried to a successful completion. 



What was to he Done for Greely? 109 

Even in the case of Greely's expedition, however, it was 
stated by the survivors on board the Thetis on their way home, 
that in their retreat from Lady Franklin Bay they had felt the 
lack of men accustomed to the management of boats, and 
that if they had had one or two seamen, their chances would 
have been better, and the result might have been different. 
In the relief expedition of 1884, as it turned out, a detach- 
ment from the Army on board the ships, where there was 
little room to spare, and where every man was incessantly 
employed, would have found nothing to occupy them from 
the time they left New York until they landed on their 
return. 

Before the adoption of its final report, the Board made a 
preliminary statement of the requirements of the new expe- 
dition, and on January 17th a letter was addressed to the 
President by the Secretary of "War and the Secretary of the 
Navy, embodying its recommendations, which were in a 
brief form those afterward elaborated in the report. The 
Navy Department was to have charge of the expedition, and 
it was to be on the ground at the earliest possible time. As 
no vessel was known to have passed Cape York earlier than 
June 1st, the expedition should leave New York by May 1st, 
and LTpernivik by May 20th. To accomplish this the necessary 
vessels should be obtained immediately. 

The letter of January 17th, from the two Secretaries, was 
transmitted to Congress by the President on the same day, with 
a special message urging prompt action to enable the Depart- 
ments to carry out the plan of relief. The message was 
referred in the House to the Committee on Appropriations, 
and on the 21st, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Ran- 
dall, submitted a joint resolution, accompanied by a favorable 
report. The resolution was as follows : 



110 The Rescue of Gredy. 

Resolved, That the President be, and is hereby, authorized to prepare 
and dispatch an expedition to the. coast of Greenland, Smith Sound, or 
Lady Franklin Ba} r , for the purpose of relieving and bringing home 
Lieutenant A. TV. Gredy and party, antPthat for this purpose the pur- 
chase of not exceeding three vessels is authorized, and all expenditures 
necessary for manning, equipping, and supplying them, and for any land 
journeys which may be required, and such sums as may be necessary to 
effect the object of this resolution are hereby appropriated out of any 
moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated ; the vessels purchased 
to be sold after their return and the money arising from such sale covered 
into the Treasury. 

And the President shall submit to Congress on the first Monday of 
December, 1884, a full and detailed account of all expenditures and 
outktys made on account of this appropriation. 

The resolution was exceptional in its character, in making 
an appropriation without any specific limit, but upon Mr. 
Randall's statement that it was thought unwise to restrict the 
appropriation to a fixed sum, the resolution was passed by 
the House almost without debate, on January 22d. 

Two days later it was discussed in the Senate. Much was 
said in condemnation of Arctic expeditions in general, and 
of the relief expedition of 18S3 in particular. The necessity 
for a relief party was admitted on all sides, and the opposition 
narrowed itself down to the question of making an unlimited 
appropriation. It was pointed out by Mr. Hale, who had 
charge of the resolution, that it was impossible to fix an esti- 
mate of cost; that if it were fixed too low it might result in 
failure, and that a very high estimate would only have the 
effect of raising prices for the vessels, of which there were 
only a small number available in existence ; and finally, that 
an amendment would delay the resolution, and perhaps put 
back the whole expedition, when every day was important. 
Several amendments were proposed and lost, fixing limits 
between half a million and a million of dollars. Finally the 



What was to he Done for Greelyf 111 

resolution was passed, with an amendment restricting the 
personnel of the expedition to such as volunteered for the 
service. 

In view of the fact that the duty was not one of scientific 
exploration, but for the relief and rescue of Government 
officers, whose lives were in peril, it would seem to have come 
within the limits of legitimate service in the Army or Navy, 
for which any one might reasonably be called on, without 
confining the executive to volunteers. Besides, all history 
shows that for any work of peril or hardship, however ap- 
palling, both the Army and the .Navy have always been ready 
to furnish far more volunteers than were needed, men who 
were willing and eager to go on any forlorn hope, and the 
small number required for the service would undoubtedly be 
selected from among these, so that the question was not one 
of great practical importance. In short, its decision one way 
or the other would not have made any change in what was 
actually done. Each House, however, insisted on its view 
of the matter, and at the end of a fortnight, during which 
there were repeated discussions, and two ineffectual con- 
ferences, the resolution was in the same situation as when it 
had first passed the Senate. 

It was now called up anew by Senator Hale, who, with 
Mr. Randall, had all along be:n indefatigable in pushing it 
forward, with every probability that the Senate would at 
length recede from its amendment, when a parliamentary 
difficulty presented itself in the fact that the resolution, 
although bodily in the possession of the Senate, the engrossed 
copy being on the presiding officer's desk, was not technically 
before it, the House not having reported any action upon the 
last conference. This led to a prolonged debate as to whether 



112 The Rescue of Greely. 

auy action at all could be taken on the resolution in its pres- 
ent situation, and if 7iot, how the difficulty should be 
obviated, so that the resolution might either be returned 
bodily to the House or brought technically before the 
Senate. Another delay seemed imminent, and led the 
Senator in charge of the bill to express ironically, in the 
course of the discussion, the hope that if Greely and his fol- 
lowers were to be left to perish they might die in a parlia- 
mentary manner. The knot was untied by sending back 
the resolution informally to the House, which returned it 
three days later, with a message insisting on its disagree- 
ment. The Senate thereupon receded from its amendment, 
and on the 13th of February the resolution was approved. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

THE PEEPAKATIOWS. 

Some time before the Joint Resolution was passed, the 
Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, acting 
conjointly, had taken steps looking to the acquisition of suit- 
able vessels. No dependence could be placed upon the 
Naval fleet, which was totally unfitted for' ice-navigation. 
To assign a vessel of the Navy to the work would only be to 
repeat the experience of the Yantic, with a greater prob- 
ability of failure, as the ice would be entered much earlier in 
the season. It was indispensable that vessels should be taken 
which had been built directly for the purpose. 

The only vessels in the world answering this description 
are the sealers and whalers of Dundee and St. John's. They 
are given steam-power to enable them to go into the ice, 
while the American whalers, which cruise to Behring Strait, 
use their steam-power to keep out of it. The first are 
distinctively ice-ships, the second open-water ships. The 
structure of the Dundee whalers is entirely directed to effi- 
ciency in navigation under the exceptional conditions pre- 
vailing in Baffin Bay. The hull is built of wood, on account 
of its greater elasticity when squeezed by the ice pressure. 
It is covered with a sheathing of ironwood to prevent abrasion 
from the jagged edges of the pack when forcing through 
broken floes, or breaking a way through bars into leads. 
The screw-propeller must be two-bladed, and so fitted that 
8 (113) 



114 The JReseue of Greely. 

it may be hoisted up in case of a nip, or when the ship is 
stationary, and the ice streaming by with the current. The 
stem must be protected by a broad guard of iron bolted 
through, and the bow must be covered with iron plates ex- 
tending well aft, to withstand the heavy shocks in ramming, 
or in smashing through floe-ice. Without this precaution the 
grinding pack would soon tear off the bow planking. Final- 
ly, both ends of the ship must have interior water-tight bulk- 
heads. 

The question of building new vessels for the relief ex- 
pedition was presented in the interest of American ship- 
builders, and carefully considered, but although there was a 
possibility that suitable vessels might be built within the re- 
quired time, it was thought best, in view of the exigencies of 
the case, not to run the risk of delay by placing dependence 
upon the uncertainties that are almost inseparable from con- 
tract work. 

The Dundee fleet makes two cruises annually, the first 
after seals and the second after whales, the interval between the 
two cruises being spent at St. John's. Leaving Dundee toward 
the end of January, the ships go to St. John's, take on board 
additional men, and set out for the coast of Labrador. Here 
they spend about a month in sealing. Some time in May 
they make for the " Southwest fishing grounds " off Cape 
Farewell, and in June they move up the Greenland coast, 
cross Melville Bay to the North Water, and thence work over 
to Lancaster Sound, for the west-side fishing. 

In order, therefore, to secure any choice of whalers for the 
Belief Expedition, it was clear that prompt action was neces- 
sary. The resolution had been introduced in the House on 
the 21st of January. In a few days all the ships would be 



The Preparations. 115 

off on their sealing cruise. To postpone the selection until 
the voyage had begun would probably defeat the purpose of 
the expedition. The vessel chosen might be detained, possi- 
bly lost ; and even if she returned early in the season, she 
would need repairs, docking perhaps, and the work of refit- 
ting at St. John's would involve delays that would render 
futile all efforts for an early start. 

Already in December inquiries had been addressed to the 
Consuls at St. John's and Dundee, calling for information as 
to the possibility of purchasing a vessel at either place. It 
appeared by the answers received from Mr. Molloy, the Con- 
sul at St. John's, that most of the vessels were already pre- 
pared to start for the sealing voyage, having their crews and 
captains engaged. Several offers were made by owners of 
vessels for delivery in May, but this was out of the question. 
It was learned, however, that the steamer Bear, owned by 
Grieve & Co., of Greenock, was then on her way from 
Greenock to St. John's, after a thorough overhauling. She 
was a sister ship of the Proteus, but had been fitted the 
year before with a new steel boiler, and was probably the 
best vessel in the St. John's fishing trade. Negotiations were 
immediately opened for her purchase, through Mr. Molloy, 
and on the 23d of January the owners consented to sell her 
at once for $100,000, delivered at New York. 

The question of an appropriation was now dragging through, 
its slow parliamentary course. By the 24th the resolution 
had passed in both branches, and the only difference between 
the Senate and the House was in reference to the employment 
of volunteers. It was reasonably certain that the appropria- 
tion would be made, but a final agreement might be delayed 
(as actually turned out to be the case), until the fishing fleet 



116 TJte Rescue of Greely. 

had started on their sealing voyage. In view of the urgency 
of the case, and of the fact that there was reasonable ground 
for believing that even without a specific appropriation, 
authority existed to make the purchase, the two Secretaries, 
in whose charge the matter lay, directed on their own re- 
sponsibility that the offer should be accepted and the vessel 
purchased. To a newspaper reporter, who asked one of them 
what he would do if the resolution failed to pass, the latter 
replied that he supposed he " would become part owner of 
a ship." 

The offer was closed on the 28th, and the Bear arrived at 
New York on the 15th of February, two days after the pas- 
sage of the appropriation. Captain Ash, who brought her 
from St. John's, was engaged as her ice-pilot for the expe- 
dition. She was surveyed soon after her arrival, and on the 
8th of March, orders were issued to proceed with the repairs 
recommended. 

While the negotiations were in progress at St. John's, 
similar inquiries were being made at Dundee, with a view to 
obtaining a second vessel. The same difficulties were en- 
countered here owing to the advanced state of preparations 
for the sealing voyage. Owners were unwilling to lose their 
prospective profits, to secure which they had already made an 
outlay ; and there is no doubt that the prices subsequently 
paid, both at St. John's and Dundee, were increased at least 
£6,000 from this cause. The negotiations at Dundee were 
conducted with excellent judgment by Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Chadwick, the Naval Attache at our Legation in 
London, acting under Mr. Lowell. Chadwick had the advice 
and co-operation of the English officers who had served in 
Arctic expeditions, as well as of the little coterie of English- 



The Preparations. 117 

men who take up Arctic exploration as an amusement, of 
whom the foremost are Leigh Smith and Sir Allen Young. 
The former will be remembered as the enterprising owner of 
the yacht Eira, which made two voyages to Franz Josef Land, 
and was finally nipped in the ice and lost ; while Sir Allen 
Young, in the whaler Hope, gallantly went to the rescue of 
his brother explorer, and brought him home from Nova 
Zembla, a year after the wreck of the Eira. Young had 
also commanded his own vessel, the Pandora (afterward 
the Jeannette), in her adventurous voyages in 1875 and 1876 
to Smith Sound and Franklin Strait. Among the naval men, 
Sir Leopold McClintock and Sir George JSTares, and other 
officers of the expedition of 1875, especially Captains Mark- 
ham, Beaumont, and Aldrich, were indefatigable in giving 
counsel and assistance. 

As it was desirable that the Government should not appear 
in the matter, inquiries were at first conducted through Mr. 
Leigh Smith and others, but this precaution was presently 
laid aside, as it very soon became a matter of general notoriety 
that the United States were seeking vessels for the expedi- 
tion. By the 9th of January the Legation was able to tele- 
graph that out of the fifteen or more whalers in the Dundee 
trade, the four best that were available were the Thetis, 
Hope, Resolute, and Arctic, at prices ranging from £18,500 
for the Hope, to £27,000 for the Thetis ; but only the Hope 
was offered for immediate use, the others being deliverable at 
St. John's in May. Unfortunately a commercial demand for 
whalers had just arisen, due to an advance in the price of 
whalebone, and the Government was thus placed in competi- 
tion with private buyers. Of the vessels offered, the Thetis 
was the newest and universally considered the best, and after 



118 The Rescue of Greely. 

some delay her owners, Stephen & Son, of Dundee, agreed 
to an immediate delivery for £32,000. A little further 
negotiation brought this down to £28,000, and on February 
4th a despatch was sent to London accepting the ship, subject 
to the inspection of the Board of Trade. The inspection 
was satisfactory, and on the 13th, it was directed that the 
purchase should be completed. After some delay, required 
for the removal of the oil-tanks and other whaling equip- 
ment, the vessel was delivered at noon on Monday, the 25th, 
to Lieutenant-Commander Chadwick ; and Lieutenant Kea- 
rney, who had been detailed to bring her to New York, was 
placed in command. 

No time was lost in preparing for the voyage to New 
York. The ship was coaled, provisions were taken on board, 
and a crew engaged. Three of Whitworth's gun-forgings, 
weighing twenty-five tons, and intended for the armament 
of the cruisers building for the Navy, together with a lot of 
pig-iron, were shipped for ballast, and at 3 p.m. of "Wednes- 
day, the 27th, the Thetis steamed out from the docks and 
anchored in the river. While here the entire crew left the 
ship, having selected this opportune moment to go ashore 
for a last spree. After some delay they were brought off in 
a tug, and at 3 a.m. of the 29th the vessel sailed. She ar- 
rived in New York March 23d, after a stormy passage, in the 
course of which she met a large field of heavy ice, and had 
an opportunity of showing what she could do in that sort of 
navigation. 

Some time before the purchase of the Thetis was com- 
pleted, Lieutenant-Commander Chadwick had turned his at- 
tention to the question of securing a third vessel among those 
which at one time or another had been used or fitted for 



The Preparations. 119 

Arctic exploration. There were three of these in England, 
the Pandora, the Discovery, and the Alert. The Pandora 
was first examined. This steamer had been built at Pem- 
broke Dockyard as a surveying vessel under the Admiralty. 
She was then called the Newport. After Sir Allen Young 
had sold the first Pandora (later the Jeannette) to Mr. Ben- 
nett for DeLong's expedition, he bought the Newport, a ves- 
sel in all respects similar, and had her doubled for Arctic 
navigation. She was re-named the Pandora, and having 
been thoroughly repaired, with new decks, engines, and 
boilers, in 1881, she was now a beautiful steam-yacht of 
about 570 tons. In the meantime she had again changed 
hands, but her new owner, Mr. Assheton Smith, was willing 
to part with her. Sir George Nares strongly recommended 
her consideration as an advance vessel, and she was accord- 
ingly examined by Chadwick, who went down to Port 
Dinowic for the purpose. Captain Pelham Aldrich, P. N., 
the explorer of the northern coast of Grinnell Land, kindly 
volunteered to accompany Chadwick in his inspection. They 
found the vessel in every way fitted for the service, except 
that her engines were of small power (35 nominal), and there 
was therefore a grave doubt as to her capacity to cope with 
the ice. 

While the question of the Pandora was still under con- 
sideration, inquiries were made unofficially in reference to 
the Alert and the Discovery, the ships commanded by 
Captain ISTares in 1875, which were still in theJSTaval service. 
The Discovery, however, which was herself an old Dundee 
whaler, was in active employment by the Admiralty as a 
transport and freight boat between the dockyards, and could 
not well be spared. The Alert was lying dismantled at 



120 The Bescue of Greely. 

Chatham, and although it seemed possible that she might 
ultimately be sold, no decision had yet been arrived at. The 
Arctic men all seemed to prefer her strongly to the Pern- 
dora, at likely to prove more efficient for the service in- 
tended. Matters being in this state, Lieutenant-Commander 
Chadwiek, in an interview with Sir Cooper Key, one of the 
Lords of the Admiralty, on the morning of February 2d, in- 
timated the possibility that the United States Government 
might desire to use the Alert in the proposed expedition. 
The interview was entirely of an informal character, and, as 
Lieutenant-Commander Chadwiek said at the time, he was 
without specific instructions, and no definite proposition 
could as yet be made. In the evening the following unoffi- 
cial letter was received at the Legation from the First Lord 

of the Admiralty : 

February 2, 1884. 
dear Mr. Lowell : 

Commander Chadwiek has mentioned, in conversation with Sir Cooper 
Key, that Her Majesty's ship Alert might he of use to the United States 
Government in an expedition to he dispatched in search of the expedi- 
tion which is missing in the Arctic region. I write a line to say that we 
have not forgotten the very considerate conduct of the Government of 
the United States on the occasion of the recovery of the Resolute, and 
that if you should be instructed to make any suggestions through the 
usual official channel, that the Alert would he of any use to the United 
States Government, we shall he happy to ask you to accept her as a 
present. 

Yours very sincerely, Northbrook. 

Mr. Lowell lost no time in sending the answer : 

Legation op the United States, February 2, 1884. 
My dear Lord Northbrook : 

It is with an emotion for which the diplomatic phrase " peculiar satis- 
faction " is altogether too colorless, that I hasten to acknowledge the 
reception of your private note of yesterday, informing me of the offer by 



The Preparations. 121 

Her Majesty's Government of II. M. S. Alert as a gift to that of the 
United States for the use of the Greely Relief Expedition. As I think 
the terms of your note more expressive than any that I could substitute 
for them, I shall this morning send a copy of it, in cipher, to Washington. 
In the meanwhile I beg thus in advance to convey to you, and through 
you to Her Majesty's Government, the thanks of the President for this 
particularly timely and graceful recognition of that international courtesy 
which I trust will always characterize the intercourse of our respective 
countries. 

Faithfully yours, J. R Lowell. 

In consequence of Lord Northbrook's letter, a dispatch 
was sent to Mr. Lowell, stating the conclusion arrived at by 
the Navy Department that the Alert would be best fitted 
for a third vessel for the Relief Expedition, and asking if 
she could be spared for the service. The suggestion was ac- 
cordingly made by the Legation, it being understood that the 
Alert was in condition to enable the United States to fit her 
for the proposed service. As parts of her equipment were 
wanting, Chadwick proposed, if the presentation was made, 
to take her to Green's, the best ship-yard for that sort of 
work on the Thames, and fit her out. On the 20th, the 
Admiralty made a formal offer of the ship as a gift, and 
while waiting for an answer, consented to tow her to the 
ship-yard, and take her back if she was not accepted. The 
acceptance was cabled in the afternoon, and work began the 
next morning. The dispatch to Mr. Lowell, informing him 
that the Alert had been accepted, was as follows : 

Lowell, Minister, London. 

Her Majesty's Government having presented to the Government of the 
United States the ship Alert to aid in the relief of Lieutenant Greely and 
his party, you will inform the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that 
the spirit which prompts this act of generosity, and this evidence of sym- 
pathy with the object in view, receives the highest appreciation of the 
President, as it will that of the people of the United States. The Presi- 



122 The Rescue of Greely. 

dent sends bis cordial thanks for the opportune gift of this vessel, -which 
lie accepts in the name of the United States, and which will be used in the 
humane enterprise for which it is so peculiarly adapted. 

FRELINGnUTSEN. 

The work of fitting out the Alert was carried on with hot 
haste, the shipwrights covering her with workmen. Lieu- 
tenant Commander Chadwick was constantly present during 
the work, as well as Lieutenant-Commander Goodrich, who 
was to take the ship to New York. Sir George Nares, Com- 
mander Parr, and other officers who had served in the Alert, 
came down frequently and gave suggestions, so that the ship- 
yard became for the time a sort of rendezvous of Arctic men. 
Mr. Leigh Smith had generously furnished to the Govern- 
ment his Arctic outfit of sledges, tents, and clothing, and it 
was decided to accept them and bring them over in the ship, 
at the same time offering Mr. Smith a passage, if he desired. 

The Alert left the works at Poplar on the 26th of 
March, and on the 29th sailed from Gravesend for New 
York, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Good- 
rich. She arrived safely in New York on the 22d of April, 
two days before the departure of the first ship of the Relief 
Expedition. 

Long before this time, arrangements had been made by 
the Navy Department for the organization of the expedition, 
and the detail of its officers. The first step was the appoint- 
ment of a Commander-in-chief, which was made on the 18th 
of February. 

In making a selection at this early date, it was the purpose 
of the Department to identify one man with the enterprise 
from the beginning, and thus not only to give him time and 
opportunity to make all the needful arrangements, but to 



The Preparations. 123 

centralize from the start the executive responsibility, and to 
include under it both preparation and action. From the 18th 
of February until the return of the vessels, the expedition, 
in the eyes of the Navy Department, was the commanding 
officer, and the commanding officer was the expedition. 
There was to be no possibility of saying, " We were unable 
to do so and so, because the Bureaus forgot this or that detail 
of equipment"; it was one man's business to call for every- 
thing that was needed, and to make sure that he got it. The 
orders ran : 

Navy Department, Washington, February 18, 1884. 
Commander Winfield S. Schley, Washington. 

Sik : Having been selected for the command of the Greely Relief Ex- 
pedition of 1884, you will make immediate and full preparation for the 
performance of your duties. You will investigate the circumstances of 
Lieutenant Greely's voyage to Lady Franklin Sound in 1881, and of the 
attempts to relieve him in 1882 and 1883, incidentally familiarizing your- 
self with the whole subject of Arctic exploring and relief expeditions. 
You will examine the Thetis and Bear, and all other ships which may be 
designed for the expedition, and co-operate with the Chiefs of Bureaus in 
strengthening and equipping them, giving particular attention to all the 
special articles of outfit necessary in Arctic voyaging, including boats, 
sledges, dogs, houses, provisions, clothing, navigation instruments, and 
the whole material of the expedition. 

You will also consider and assist in the selection of the subordinate 
officers and the enlistment of the crew ; and on all points above indicated, 
and concerning any steps which ought to be taken to give success to the 
expedition, you will from time to time make to the Department all sug- 
gestions and recommendations which may occur to you as useful or im- 
portant. 

Very respectfully, William E. Chandler, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

Commander George "W. Coffin was assigned to the com- 
mand of the Alert, and Lieutenant William H. Emory, Jr., 
to that of the Bear. All the officers for the three ships, as 



124 The Rescue of Greely. 

well as the seamen, were carefully selected. Every man was 
examined by a medical board, under instructions from the 
Surgeon-General, prescribing a standard of physique neces- 
sary to endure the hardships and exposures of the Arctic, and 
many of those who came before the board were rejected. 
Care was taken that on board each vessel there should be 
at least one officer who had had more or less Arctic expe- 
rience. 

The list of officers, as finally made up, was as follows : 

Thetis. 

Commander Winfield S. Schley, Commanding Expedition. 
Lieutenant Uriel Sebree, Executive and Navigating officer. 
" Emory H. Taunt. 

" Samuel C. Lemly. 

Ensign Washington I. Chambers, (afterwards transferred to the Loch 
Garry). 
" Charles H. Harlow. 
Chief -Engineer George W. Melville. 
Passed Assistant-Surgeon Edward H. Green. 

Bear. 

Lieutenant William H. Emory, Jr., Commanding. 

" Freeman H. Crosby, Executive and Navigating officer. 

John C. Col well. 

" Nathaniel K. Usher. 

Ensign Lovell K. Reynolds. 
Chief -Engineer John Lowe. 
Passed Assistant-Surgeon Howard E. Ames. 

Alert. 

Commander George W. Coffin, commanding. 

Lieutenant Charles J. Badger, Executive and Navigating officer. 

" Henry J. Hunt. 

Ensign Charles S. McClain. 

" Albert A. Ackerman. 
Passed Assistant-Engineer William H. Nauman. 

" " Surgeon Francis S. Nash. 



The Preparations. 125 

The officers of the Thetis who had had Arctic experience 
were Lieutenant Sebree, who had been in the Tigress when 
she made her voyage to Littleton Island in search of the 
Polaris, and Chief -Engineer Melville, whose part in the 
Jeannette expedition is too well known to require even a 
passing allusion ; in the Bear, Lieutenant Colwell, whose 
services in the return from the wreck of the Proteus, form 
the brightest episode in an otherwise gloomy chapter of 
Arctic history ; and in the Alert, Lieutenant Hunt, who had 
served in the Podgers, on the disastrous expedition in search 
of the Jeannette, and Ensign Ackerman, who had made the 
cruise the summer before in the Yantic. There were also 
three ice-masters, Norman, the former mate of the Proteus 
and the Neptune, in the Thetis; Ash, in the Bear; and 
Gilford, a New Bedford whaler, in the Alert. 

The ships carried no paymasters. The care of the pro- 
visions and clothing was made a part of the Surgeon's duty. 
He regulated the variety and quantity of the dietary allow- 
ance of the crews, as well as their changes of clothing, and 
all issues of food or clothing were made under his supervision. 
Whenever the payment of money was necessary it was done 
by the commanding officers upon the usual vouchers. The 
medical officers of course performed their ordinary profes- 
sional duties, in reference both to the sanitary condition of 
the ships and the health of those on board, which, on the re- 
turn trip, were no slight responsibility and care. Their 
suggestions always had the force of law, and were observed 
under all circumstances during the cruise. 

The crews we.'e cut down to the lowest possible limit. 
The number of officers and men allowed to the Thetis was 
thirty-seven, to the Bear thirty-four, and to the Alert thirty- 



126 The Rescue of Greely. 

nine. In order to secure crews as homogeneous as possible, 
all the men were taken from the Navy. Volunteers were 
invited from all the ships of the North Atlantic fleet, but the 
absence of most of the vessels made it necessary to fall back 
on the Powhatan, from which three-fourths of the men were 
drawn. After Americans, the preference was given to 
"north-countrymen," that is, Scandinavians and Russian 
Finns. All were enlisted on board the Vermont at New 
York, in order that the same rule of examination might be 
generally applied. The examination was rigid, and many 
were excluded, but those whose only defect was in the teeth, 
were taken after being put in the hands of a dentist. The 
pay of all the crews was increased ten dollars per month for 
the cruise, and a bounty amounting to two months 1 regular 
pay was promised if the ships returned successful in the fall. 
The Thetis and the Bear were vessels built to encounter 
the ice of Melville Bay, but after they had been inspected by 
the commander of the expedition and by the chiefs of Bureaus 
of the Navy Department, it was thought best to take every 
possible precaution and strengthen them further. Additional 
beams were therefore laid between those already supporting 
the lower decks, and truss-frames were put in, extending 
from the bilge to the middle of the lower deck beams. A 
deck was also laid on these beams, as the whalers had no 
berth-deck, the space where it is usually found being left 
open to give access to the immense blubber-tanks in the 
hold. Water-tight bulkheads were put up at the forward 
and after ends. Iron straps were put over the stem and 
secured with through-bolts to the forward deadwood, and 
sponsons or filling-pieces were used to close up the space in 
the angle between the keel and the ship's bottom, so that the 



The Preparations. 127 

thrust of ice forced laterally against the lower part of the 
hull, would be borne on without resistance, and all danger of 
forcing open the bottom planking avoided. 

Besides the strengthening of the vessels, they were calked 
and painted, the machinery was thoroughly examined and 
repaired, and two donkey-boilers were placed in the fire- 
rooms for general use during winter. The standing rigging 
was overhauled and repaired, and the running rigging and 
sails were renewed. Steam-jets were placed in the holds and 
coal-bunkers, to assist in putting out fire in case of spon- 
taneous combustion, of which there was some danger from 
the bituminous coal used by the vessels. 

To provide for an increase of air-space for the officers and 
men during what might be a long period of confinement, the 
quarters on board both ships ware remodeled. Only the 
Captain had a room by himself. The saloon of the vessels, 
which was to be used as a wardroom, was fitted with bunks, and 
curtains with rods which could be "rigged out" at night. 
On the berth-desk was a general storeroom, and the ammu- 
nition-locker, the men's quarters being on the upper-deck 
forward. To give more room, the top-gallant forecastle was 
extended aft, and the quarters were fitted with twenty-eight 
bunks built in pairs, one above the other. The quarters 
were separated from the ship's side by an alley-way which 
gave access to the forward part of the ship, and the walls and 
ceilings were lined with felt to exclude the cold and to pre- 
vent condensation of moisture. The same device, which was 
a suggestion of Chief Constructor Wilson, was employed in 
the officers' quarters, and served its purpose admirably. Both 
apartments were heated by stoves instead of steam from the 
boiler, for reasons of economy, the consumption of coal when 



128 The Rescue of Greely. 

the ship was not under way being thus reduced to 150 pounds 
a day, instead of two tons. The difficulty described by Nares 
in the use of stoves in the Arctic, which arises from the in- 
ability of the column of hot air from a small fire to resist the 
heavy downward pressure of cold air in the flue, was obviated 
by the introduction of fresh air through a pipe to the space 
below the grate bars. 

The Alert was in such good condition upon her arrival at 
Xew York as to require no changes except in the construc- 
tion of berths for the crew, the removal of some unnecessary 
bulkheads in her hold, and slight repairs to the rigging and 
sails. 

On the 10th of March the Navy Department called upon 
the Commander of the expedition to submit a plan proposing 
dates for the departure of the relief ships, and on the Ifth 
the following answer was given : 

Washington, D. C, March 17, 1884. 
Hon. W. E. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy. 

Sir : —In reply to your letter of March 10th, informing me that it had 
been definitely settled that the Thetis, Bear, and Alert were to be the ves- 
sels of the expedition to relieve Lieutenant Greely and party at Lady 
Franklin Bay, I would respectfully suggest that the Bear, being the ves- 
sel most advanced in the strengthening needed for this service, should be 
dispatched from New York on the 25th of April to St. John's, New- 
foundland, to fill up with coal, to take dogs on board, and to inquire into 
the condition of the ice in Davis Strait, and at the earliest practicable 
moment to proceed to the Danish settlements of Disko and Upernivik, 
reaching there about the third week in May, if practicable. 

The Thetis should follow the Bear, leaving New York not later than 
May 1st, stopping at St. John's for coal, to take dogs on board, and to 
convoy the coal steamer to Upernivik, where she ought to arrive about 
May 25th. 

From Upernivik the Thetis and Bear should proceed onward with the 
convoy to Cape York and Littleton Island. Should the ice appear too 
formidable for the collier to encounter so early as June, she should re- 



The Preparations. 129 

main at Upernivik until the arrival of the Alert, which vessel would then 
be charged with the convoy. 

The importance of convoy beyond Upernivik can hardly be over-esti- 
mated, in view of the circumstance that the Government may be obliged 
to assume all responsibility for the coal vessel,and cargo. 

The Alert should be dispatched not later than May 10th from New 
York to St. John's, to fill up with coal, and then to proceed onward to 
Disko and Upernivik, where she should arrive not later than June 1st. 

Her movements should be so timed that she might reach Littleton 
Island, or Foulke Fiord, about the 1st of July, in order to have sufficient 
time to land and build the house, land provisions, coal, and other sup- 
plies, to establish the station upon which the advance ships' companies 
could retreat in the event of disaster, and afterwards to send a sled party 
onward to examine the coast on the eastern side of Smith Sound as far 
as Humboldt Glacier. 

This duty completed by September 1st, and the Thetis and Bear not 
having returned to Littleton Island, or Foulke Fiord, the Alert should 
return to St. John's with news of the expedition. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

W. S. Schley, 

Commander, Commanding Greely Relief Expedition. 

This programme was rigorously carried out. The Bear 
was put in commission March 17th, the Thetis April 2d, and 
the Alert was continued in commission after her arrival from 
England. All the vessels sailed on or before the dates named. 

As soon as the officers rejDorted for duty, a detail was made, 
and instructions were given them to inspect all articles of 
outfit under preparation, and to report daily to the Com- 
mander of the expedition the progress made in the different 
departments, and any deficiencies in the lists of stores. The 
provisions and the medical outfit were carefully inspected by 
the medical officers. In this way, net only was the com- 
manding officer cognizant of the state of forwardness of the 
expedition day by day, but the officers themselves became 
familiar with every article of outfit ; and many points not 
9 



130 The Rescue of Oreely. 

yet thought of came up for consideration, which resulted in 
new ideas and suggestions, and the addition of much that 
was needful to the resources of the expedition. By the firet 
week in April the supplies were well advanced, those of the 
Bewt being pushed most rapidly, as she was to be the first 
vessel off. 

As it had been ascertained that the use of anthracite coal, 
— the kind generally employed in the service, — would result 
in a loss of speed of at least twenty per cent., it was decided 
to sond for the best Welsh or semi-bituminous coal. The 
coal-transport Tbarra was accordingly chartered, and she 
brought over 2,000 tons from Cardiff. A contract was also 
made with Sutton & Co., the agents of the English steamer 
Loch Garry, to transport 500 tons of Welsh coal from Cardiff 
to Littleton Island. This would secure a supply for the ex- 
pedition on the spot, and the Government assumed the re- 
sponsibility for the vessel from the time of her departure 
from St. John's until her return to New York. It is a note- 
worthy fact that no suitable vessel could be found in the 
United States for this service. 

Each ship was furnished with a Iierreshoff steam cutter, 
and the Alert with White's steam cutter, which had been 
purchased in England. The other boats were constructed to 
serve three purposes. They were to be used as boats in cross! ng 
water-spaces, as sleds in crossing floes, and as quarters when 
hauled out in stormy weather, or for rest. For this reason 
they were fitted with bilge-runners, after the method adopted 
by Sir Edward Parry, and with covers and tent-stanchions. 
The thole-pins were of wood, and, in general, the use of 
metal was avoided as much as possible. Besides the oars, 
two paddles were supplied to each boat, with ice-chisels fitted 



The Preparations. 131 

on their upper end, to be used in cutting through small ice- 
tongues or blocks in the way of the ships. Their sails and 
tent-coverings, as well as the A tents supplied to the expedi- 
tion, were made of tan-colored canvas, to avoid the glare, 
and to make them more easily distinguishable at a distance in 
a region where nearly all objects are white. 

The steam cutters were of the Herreshoff type, built as 
whale-boats, and were of excellent service, especially as sea- 
boats, for which their form and lightness peculiarly fitted 
them ; but the type of engine with the exterior condenser was 
hardly simple enough for the exceptionally hard service and 
unavoidable neglect to which the boats are subjected in the 
Arctic. The safety-valve was a weak spot in the machinery, 
and unless closely watched, was apt to lose its tempering 
with the sudden increase of steam pressure in the coil-boiler. 
The Bear's steam cutter, christened by somebody the " Cub," 
which was so prominently connected with the rescue, was 
partly disabled at the time, and it is doubtful if she would 
have been of any service but for the indefatigable industry 
and resource of Chief-Engineer Lowe, who kept her running 
in spite of all the difficulties that arose at this critical 
moment. 

The sleds of the expedition were made in accord- 
ance with the designs of Chief-Engineer Melville, with re- 
versible runners shod with iron, and were well constructed, 
though somewhat heavier than they should have been. In 
the outfit supplied by Mr. Leigh Smith, there were also two 
McClintock sleds. 

The ships were provisioned for 115 men for two years. 
The enormous progress of recent years in the art of canning 
foods made it possible to fit out the expedition with an 



132 The Rescue of Greely. 

almost unlimited variety of provisions. As the nutritive 
value of food depends largely upon frequent changes of diet, 
it was deemed of the lirst importance to include in the 
list everything thai was In the market, and next that all the 
articles should be securely packed in hermetically-sealed cans, 
covered with light wooden boxes. The bread was packed in 
the same way, the wooden cases weighing about forty pounds 
each, making stowage and handling an easy matter. Every 
package was plainly stencilled with its weight and contents. 
The pemmican, which is always the most nutritious food in 
the most compact form for Arctic work, was packed in one 
and two-pound cans and boxes. Pemmican is made from the 
round of beef cut in strips and dried, then shredded or 
minced, and mixed with beef tallow and currant?. It is 
palatable and wholesome, and may be eaten from the can, or 
cut into cakes and fried. Anti-scorbutics of several kinds 
were included in the list, and tea and chocolato were the 
principal stimulants taken. It was found by the expedition 
that in the Arctic climate the nse of coffee has injurious 
effects on many constitutions, and tea seemed to be the best 
stimulant for ordinary use; though there are times when, after 
severe exposure, nothing short of hot spirits will give the in- 
ternal warmth needed. 

The clothing outfit was made at the New York Navy 
Yard, the officers and men being titled as soon as they joined. 
It was intended to be sufficient for two years, and comprised 

three suits oi' under and outer clothing for each year. The 
underclothing was of heavy red llaimrl made double about 
the chest, and with stockings of red WOOl extending to the 
knees. The outer clothing was made <>f heavy pliable cloth, 
and consisted of a blue flannel overshirt, made full with 



The Preparations. 133 

double chest and back and a rolling collar, a vest and blouse 
of blue cloth lined with flannel, an overcoat made like a 
monkey jacket, and an Elsinore leather cap with a woolen 
I trip to roll down over the care and the neck. Horn buttons 
only were used, because they do not collect the frost. The 
hand coverings were woolen one-fingered mittens and sealskin 
gloves, and the boots were of tanned horse-hide and sealskin. 
This was the "summer rig." 

The winter rig comprised two suits of reindeer clothing 
for each year, consisting of a jacket and hood made in one, 
with the sleeves covering the hands, and loose trousers falling 
to the knee. Under the reindeer hood a woolen hood was 
worn, with a knitted cape covering the ears and neck, leav- 
ing the face uncovered. Great diillculty was found in ob- 
taining reindeer skins for the winter clothing. They could 
not be found in the United States, and the Department was 
obliged to order them from Stockholm, and even there delays 
occurred in bringing the skins in from the country villages, 
where alone they were to be bought. They only arrived at 
the last moment, and the suits were made up in New York 
in an extraordinarily short time. 

The winter foot-gear consisted of sealskin moccasins lined 
with Iceland wool, inside of which was worn, over the ordi- 
nary stocking, a long cloth stocking lined with fleece, and 
laced from the instep to the knee. The moccasins are gen- 
erally soled with oogook skins, which are taken from the 
larger seals, and are stouter and tougher than the ordinary 
skins, as well as more lasting and impervious to water. They 
arc, not generally found for sale outside of Arctic settlements. 
The Thetis purchased all she wanted at Tassuisak. To pro- 
tect the eyes from the snow glare, goggles of colored glass 



134: The Rescue of Grcely. 

were used, and to avoid condensation on the inner side, thin 
gauze surrounded the glass and fitted over the eve, maintain- 
ing the same temperature on both sides of the glass. During 
the summer in the Arctic, the sun being always above the hori- 
zon, it is necessary to wear goggles most of the time to avoid 
snow-blindness. Mittens are obviously better than gloves, 
and the Eskimo pattern of mittens, with a thumb or finger 
on each side, is probably the best suited for Arctic use. 

Sleeping-bags for work in sledging were made of reindeer 
skin with the fur inside. They were about eight feet long 
and thirty inches wide, cut somewhat to the shape of the 
figure. They were fitted with a slit to facilitate getting in 
and out, with a round hole or opening for the face, covered 
by a flap closing toward the foot. "When a party is on the 
march, the bags are rolled up to exclude moisture, and they 
give a moderate amount of comfort even at extreme tem- 
peratures, if one is inside of a tent. They are an indispensa- 
ble part of an Arctic outfit. 

For firearms, each ship was supplied with six double- 
barrelled sporting guns and twelve Springfield rifles. All 
ammunition was put up in metallic cases, to avoid the effect 
of moisture in the higher latitudes. In former expeditions, 
when paper cases have been used, they have swollen so much 
from the moisture absorbed, that it has been necessary to pare 
them off before they would fit the breech of the gun. This 
serious objection is entirely obviated in the metallic cartridges, 
which have also the advantage of being capable of closer 
stowage. The charge for the shot-guns was too light to 
bring down game at long distances, though the gun was 
heavy enough to stand a much larger charge. 

The outfit of meteorological instruments was furnished by 



The Preparations. 135 

the Signal Office, and arrangements were made to take the 
observation s requested by the office at the proposed station in 
Smith Sound. 

There have been occasions in the history of the Navy 
Department, especially where ships were to be fitted for sea, 
when the execution of an important project has been post- 
poned by obstacles and delays of one kind or another, until 
the opportunity for action has gone by, and among the 
multitude of officials engaged in the work, no one is to 
be found who has not an excuse for his share of the delay. 
It was just here that the active and untiring efforts of Secre- 
tary Chandler were to be seen and felt. Everybody was 
given to understand from the start that the ships must be 
ready at the designated time, and that no excuses for failure 
would be accepted. As early as the 4th of February, before 
any of the ships had reached New York, a letter was sent to 
all the Chiefs of Bureaus, which said : 

" The vessels of the Greely Belief Expedition will be fitted out by the 
Navy Department. You will immediately familiarize yourself with tbe 
subject and be prepared to perform any work necessary from your 
Bureau thoroughly and without delay. Difficulty has been experienced 
in starting to sea vessels of the Navy at the dates fixed for sailing. There 
must be no such failure in the case of this expedition. You will 
promptly call tbe attention of the Department to any questions upon 
wbich you wish decisions or explicit directions. You will give all 
practicable personal attention to the business, in all its details, trusting 
as little as possible to other persons. You will communicate freely with 
the Chiefs of other Bureaus, and with the Commanding officer of the 
expedition. 

"The subject is thus specially called to your attention not on account 
of any doubt, but with the fullest conviction, that you, and every officer 
and seaman of the Navy who may have duties to perform in connection 
with the Belief Expedition, will gladly do the utmost to make it success- 
ful, and to find and relieve our imperiled countrymen, for whose safety 
our whole people are full of anxiety." 



136 The Rescue of Oredy. 

The survey of the Bear, the first steamer to arrive, was 
completed on the 4th of March, and on the 8th the report 
of the Board of Survey was approved and an order was 

given to begin the alteration of the vessel at once. The 
order was addressed to all the officials connceted with the 
work — the Commandant of the New York Yard, and the 
Chiefs of the Bureaus of Construction, Steam Engineering, 
and Equipment ; and it contained a proviso that "it must, 
however, he distinctly understood that no work is to he un- 
dertaken on the Bear, or any other ship of the Greely Relief 
Expedition, which can not he fully completed without delay- 
ing the expedition beyond the time which may be fixed for 
its departure from New York. 1 " 

These dates, as already noticed, were decided upon by the 
17th of March, and all the officials concerned were imme- 
diately informed of the decision. The work was pushed for- 
ward with energy, and no detail was too minute to receive 
the attention of the Secretary. lie insisted upon satisfying 
himself personally that the work was done, well done, and 
done in time. As the time approached for the sailing of the 
Jjicw, the following brief but pointed letter was addressed to 

all the Chiefs of Bureaus : 

Navy DEr.utTMKvr, Washington, 
April 18, 1884. 
Sin : You are requested to inform the Department whether the Bear, 
of the Greely Relief Expedition, is in all respects, so far as your Bureau 
is concerned, ready for sea. If she is not, what work yet remains to be 
done? Very respectfully, 

"William E. Chandler, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

On the 2Sth of April, a letter identical in its language was 
written, referring to the Thetis, and another on the 7th of 



The Preparations. 137 

May, referring to tlie Alert. As the Commander of the Ex- 
pedition had sailed before the last date, additional copies of 
the third letter were sent to the Commandant of the New 
York Yard and to Commander Coffin. 

No further explanation is needed of the unusual fact that 
an expedition, of so elaborate and exceptional a character, 
sailed on the days fixed, and that in the outfit and prepara- 
tions not a single omission or defect of importance was ever 
discovered. 

Throughout all the work of preparation, the Navy Depart- 
ment had the cordial and earnest co-operation of the Secretary 
of War, and the two Secretaries were in constant consultation 
upon questions relating to the expedition. 

In addition to fitting out the Government expedition, it 
was thought wise to take such subsidiary measures as might 
offer any promise of a beneficial result. To this end requests 
were made in February by the State Department, through 
the Consuls at Dundee and St. John's, that the owners of 
sealing or whaling vessels would direct their captains to be 
on the lookout for signs of Greely's party, as it was just pos- 
sible that they might have drifted south on an ice-floe ; and 
assurances were given that any services performed by the 
whalers would be substantially recognized by the Govern- 
ment. Later, Congress went beyond this, and, on the 17th 
of April, directed the Secretary of the Navy to offer a reward 
of $25,000 for the rescue of Greely or for the discovery of 
his fate. 

The proclamation announcing the offer was issued by the 
Navy Department on the same day, and distributed through 
the Legations and Consulates abroad. It was as follows : 



138 The Rescue of Greely. 



proclamation— $25,000 reward. 

United States op America, 

Navy Department, 
Washington, District op Columbia, 

April 17, 18S4. 

Notice is hereby given that the Government of the United States of 
America will pay a reward of twenty-five thousand dollars, to be equita- 
bly paid or distributed to such ship or ships, person or persons, not in 
the military or naval service of the United States, as shall discover and 
rescue, or satisfactorily ascertain the fate of the expedition of Lieutenant 
A. W. Greely, an officer of the United States Arnijr, and his command, 
consisting of about twenty-four persons, which, in the month of August, 
in the year eighteen hundred and eighty -one, landed from the steamer 
Proteus at Discovery Harbor, in Lady Franklin Sound, in latitude 81° 44' 
N. and longitude 64° 45' W. 

Unprepared vessels are warned not to incur extraordinary peril or risk 
in the effort to secure the reward hereby offered ; the United States will, 
in no event, be involved in any future liability or responsibility beyond 
said reward ; and the determination of the Secretary of the Navy as to 
the right of any man to said reward, or a share thereof, shall be conclu- 
sive upon all persons. 

Witness my hand, at the Navy Department, in Washington, on said 
seventeenth day of April, a.d. 1884. 

William E. Chandler, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

The proclamation was received at St. John's before the 
whalers set out for Melville Bay, and aroused the greatest 
interest among them. Most of them resolved to make an 
effort to obtain the reward, and the result was that the whal- 
ing cruise of 1884 to the North Water was marked by a 
competition and a zest far beyond those which ordinarily- 
character ize the passage. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE DEPARTURE OF THE RELIEF SQUADRON. 

The plan upon which the Navy Department had acted in 
the preparation of the expedition, as described in the last 
chapter, and which it proposed to follow to the end, was clear 
and consistent. As soon as the decision was reached that it 
was to take a part in the enterprise, it obtained the fullest 
advice as to the needs of the service. Before the resolution 
was passed it took measures to secure suitable ships. Having 
provided these, it selected a commander, and it placed at his 
disposal the whole machinery of the Department and Bu- 
reaus. He was to ask for everything he wanted ; the Secre- 
tary took care that it should be supplied. Ships, officers, 
men, provisions, stores, equipment, clothing, — he had but to 
say that he needed them and he had them if any country in 
the world could supply them. That all was accomplished 
according to the commander's fullest wish, and accomplished 
at the time he fixed, showed an extraordinary energy on the 
part of the Department. Of course it was not done without 
an unwearied effort, a close attention of the Secretary himself 
to the minutest details, a personal certainty on his own part 
that every order was executed to the letter, with promptness 
and fullness. So much for the preparations. The same plan 
was followed in laying out the work of the expedition. 
Recognizing that it was impossible to give instructions for 

every contingency in a voyage in the Arctic seas, and that if 

(139) 



140 The Rescue of Greely. 

an officer is fit to command at all, he is fit also to judge of the 
best method to accomplish on the spot a known end, when he 
is supplied with all the means he has asked for, the Secre- 
tary hampered the commander of the expedition with no 
minute directions as to what should be done in this or that 
hypothesis, but left him free as air to act according to his 
discretion. From his first connection with the expedition 
to the time he sailed, the Department only laid upon him 
three simple injunctions : first, to acquaint himself with 
the circumstances of Greely's voyage in 1881, and of the 
attempts of 1882 and 1883, and with Arctic expeditions 
in general ; secondly, to ask for everything the expedition 
needed ; and finally, to take his ships and proceed to the 
coast of Greenland, or further north, and " find and rescue 
or ascertain the fate " of the lost explorers. 
The final orders were as follows : 

Navy Department, 

Washington, April 21, 1884. 
Sir : The Thetis, Bear, and Alert, the ships of the Greely Relief Ex- 
pedition of 1884, being ready, you are ordered to take command of them 
and to proceed to the coast of Greenland, or further north if necessary, 
and, if possible, to find and rescue, or ascertain the fate of Lieutenant 
A. W. Greely and his comrades. 

All the officers and men under your command are hereby enjoined to 
perform any duty on sea or land to which you may order them. No 
detailed instructions will be given you. Full confidence is felt that you 
have both the capacity and the courage, guided by discretion, necessary 
to do all that can be required of you by the Department or the nation 
for the rescue of our imperiled countrymen. 

With earnest wishes and high hopes for your success and safe return, 
I am, Very respectfully, 

"William E. Chandler, 

Secretary of the Navy. 
Commander Winfield S. ScnLEY, U. S. N., 

Commanding the Greely Belief Expedition. 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 141 

The plan adopted was one calculated to call forth all a 
man's efforts in their highest and fullest activity. Power 
and responsibility were placed from the first, and placed in 
a single individual, and the fullest confidence was shown that 
the desired result would be attained. 

The Secretary, while untiring in his attention to details, 
never seemed to feel any apprehension as to the fate of his 
expedition. At Portsmouth, after the return of the Relief 
Squadron, some one asked him whether he had not been anx- 
ious as to the result. " Never for a moment," said Mr. Chan- 
dler, promptly ; " I thought it possible that one of the ships 
might be lost, or even two of them ; but there is this advan- 
tage about being nipped in the ice, that you have always the 
ice as a refuge. The preparations were so complete, and the 
precautions taken in the event of any disaster so perfect, that 
I was sure that, no matter what happened, the result would 
be accomplished, and that without further calamity." 

It should not be forgotten that during the preparation of 
the expedition of 1884 there was little encouragement to be 
drawn from popular or newspaper utterances ; the recollec- 
tion of all the disasters in the Arctic regions, and especially 
of those which had recently overtaken the brave DeLong 
and his fellows in the Lena delta, was too fresh in the public 
mind to permit any great hope of success for this new enter- 
prise. It was generally felt that it was a pity that there 
should be a necessity of offering new material to almost cer- 
tain sacrifice; and though all the people who visited the 
ships before their departure felt that the Government was 
in duty bound to attempt Greely's relief, there were many 
who freely expressed their regret that the expedition should 
set forth on what seemed to them not only a fruitless but a 
fatal errand. 



142 The Rescue of Greely. 

It is hardly necessary to say that this prevalent feeling did 
not have a very depressing influence upon the officers of the 
expedition. With regard to Greely's situation there was of 
course much thought and discussion, but it was recognized 
as being largely a matter of conjecture. The three com- 
manders, in their frequent conversations, were never willing 
to admit the possibility that a general catastrophe had taken 
place. As for the work of the relief expedition itself, while 
there was no apprehension of disaster, there was no expecta- 
on that success would come with a hurrah ; and it was rec- 
o^n ! zed as a serious undertaking, to which everybody must 
give his best efforts. The officers and men of the expedition 
sailed, if not with a certain, at least with a possible prospect 
of wintering beyond Kane Sea ; and although few of them 
knew much about ice navigation except what they had read 
of its dangers, and the events of the last two years did not 
offer much encouragement to the hopes of the public at large, 
such considerations did not lead those connected with the 
squadron to have any doubts about a successful result. 

Although it is fair to assume that an officer who has the 
right spirit will always set about any serious duty with the 
intention of doing his best, it is due to the officers and men 
of the relief squadron to say that all of them knew that the 
object of the voyage was something above and beyond the 
ordinary calls of service, and that they felt an earnestness of 
purpose which a mere exploring expedition would hardly 
have called forth. At any rate, whatever may have been 
their feelings, they certainly evinced a determination to spare 
no pains, to incur any exposure, to assume any required risk, 
and to be unflagging in watching for opportunities to gain a 
mile, a yard, or a foot on the journey toward Greely and his 
party. 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 143 

The Bear, being most advanced in her preparations, had 
been designated as the first vessel to depart. Her sailing 
orders were signed on the 16th of April, and directed her to 
proceed to Disko and Upernivik, stopping on the way at St. 
John's only long enough to fill up with coal and take on 
board the few supplies awaiting her. After engaging Eskimo 
dog-drivers for the three ships, the Bear was to wait for the 
Thetis at Upernivik, unless news had been received there of 
Greely's arrival at Littleton Island, or unless special circum- 
stances justified an advance. Neither contingency was very 
probable, as there is no communication between Cape York 
and the Danish settlements, and Melville Bay was not likely 
to be open at that date. If the Bear crossed the Bay, she 
was to wait for the other ships before advancing into Kane 
Sea, unless the delay was so long as to lead to the belief that 
no other ships would arrive. In passing north from Cape 
York, the coast was to be searched, and cairns were to be 
placed with records for the other ships at prominent points, 
of which exact indications were to be given beforehand. If 
Greely and his party were discovered, they were to be brought 
to Upernivik, and a record of the fact left at Littleton Island, 
Cape Parry, and Conical Rock. 

General directions were given as to the conduct of the 
voyage. Sixty days' provisions were to be kept on deck 
from the moment of arriving in the ice regions, and the men 
were to have exact and frequent exercises at " fire-quarters," 
and in " abandoning ship." 

The date fixed for the departure of the Bear from New 
York was the 25th of April. It was discovered that this 
date fell on Friday, and in deference to the well-known sailor 
superstition, it was thought best to take another day. It had 



144 TJie Rescue of Greely. 

been determined, however, that none of the ships should be 
an hour behind the appointed date, and the only alternative 
was to anticipate it. So the preparations were hurried with 
redoubled energy, and the Bear set out on Thursday, April 
24th. 

It was half-past three in the afternoon when the advance 
ship, leaving her moorings at the Navy Yard, steamed slowly 
down the East River and out of the harbor of New York. 
The wharves on the Brooklyn and New York sides were 
thronged with cheering crowds of people, while the steamers 
and other shipping of the port were dressed with flags and 
pennants. The good wishes and the godspeed were universal. 

The last message from the Navy Department was a dis- 
patch telegraphed that morning from "Washington to Lieut. 
Emory : 

I wish you and all your comrades good health, good courage, and good 
luck. Good-bye. 

"Wm. E. Chandler, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

A week later, at half-past two on the afternoon of May 1st, 
the TJietis sailed from New York, followed by the same 
demonstrations of interest and sympathy. Salutes were fired 
from the Navy Yard, from Governor's Island, and from Fort 
Hamilton, the relief ship dipping her colors in return. The 
Tallapoosa, followed her to the lower bay, and the Secretary 
of the Navy gave her in person his last good-bye. At Sandy 
Hook lightship, the Thetis was swung to determine the devi- 
ation of her compasses, and immediately after she proceeded 
to sea. 

The passage to St. John's lasted eight days, with fine 
weather. On the third day out the connecting rod of the air- 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 145 

pump broke. It was rather a discouraging circumstance to 
meet with such an accident so early in the voyage, but thanks 
to the efforts of Chief-Engineer Melville, it resulted in only 
a slight delay. He went to work at the forge himself and 
spent the night in forging a new rod. The ship continued 
on her voyage, and early on the morning of May 9th, she 
steamed into the harbor of St. John's. 

The Bear had arrived on May 2d, after a severe passage 
of seven days, part of the time in a thick fog. On the third 
day out she encountered a heavy gale, which carried away 
the bridge. She remained at St. John's only two days, just 
long enough to renew her store of coal, and to receive the 
supplies which Consul Molloy had ready for her, — sealskin 
boots and Elsinore caps for her crew, dogs from Labrador 
for sled-work, and fresh provisions. The injuries received 
on the way up were not allowed to cause any additional de- 
lay, only the iron-work being refitted in port, and enough 
lumber was taken on board to complete the repairs at sea. 

On the 3d, Lieutenant Emory wrote to the IsTavy Depart- 
ment, giving an account of what he had learned at St. John's, 
and of his proposed movements. He said : 

" I had the honor to advise you by cable to-day that this season is con- 
sidered as propitious for favorable ice conditions. Northeasterly gales 
have prevailed in this vicinity for some weeks ; if they have in the 
Arctic seas, as there is reason to believe, the ice will have been set in 
motion to the southward sooner than usual. 

" The sealing season closed this year the 25th of April, so that all the 
sealing vessels and whalers in that pursuit have returned to port. These 
steamers do not go to the northward of the coast of Labrador for seals, 
so that the information regarding the ice conditions in the Arctic can not 
be otherwise than the opinions of their respective masters. 

"All these steamers report an unusual quantity of ice packed off the 
Straits of Belle Isle and the southern coast of Labrador. In fact the 
10 



146 The Rescue of Greely. 

Neptune, the most successful vessel this season, was jammed in the ice, 
and her master, while regretting the fact that he was unable to proceed 
with the other steamers to what he considered the best sealing ground, 
suddenly found himself surrounded by seals, and in a few days returned 
to port with forty -one thousand harps [young seals], his ship loaded to 
her gunwales. The steamers off shore all returned empty. 

' ' The above observations have determined me to pursue the following 
course after leaving this port : Take the middle passage of Davis Straits, 
and when my progress is obstructed by ice, skirt its edge until I reach 
the Greenland coast, thence along the edge of the foot-ice to Disko and 
Upernivik. Should my early arrival at the latter port be prevented by 
ice, I will then be able to find a lee on the coast, or make one in the foot- 
ice, to await a favorable opportunity of proceeding. 

" Should I be able to steam with dispatch to Upernivik, it is not my 
intention to tarry at Disko ; I will communicate only by boat, leaving 
dispatches for Commander Schley. Should the ice delay us on the coast 
of Greenland to the southward of Disko, I will communicate with Hol- 
steinborg. At the latter place I would be able to obtain news from Uper- 
nivik of 15th February, and send a mail home via Copenhagen. My 
instructions say : ' You may proceed beyond Upernivik if any special 
circumstances justify such movement.' If upon my arrival at Upernivik 
I find that the ice conditions are favorable for the passage of Melville Bay, 
I will attempt it without delay. I have advised the Department by cable 
that two steam whalers, the Narwhal and the Esquimaux, have sailed, 
and that the Arctic and the Polynia would leave next week for Cape 
York and the north water, and that their departure two weeks earlier 
than usual was due to the Greely reward. In addition to these vessels 
which I have named, several whalers have left Dundee for the same des- 
tination. All these vessels have instructions for the rescue of the Greely 
party. In making this attempt the whalers are only put to the additional 
expense of two weeks earlier in commission. Their intentions are to com- 
municate with Cape York, and should they rescue Lieutenant Greely 
and his party, to land them at Upernivik ; so the only departure from 
their regular cruise will be a departure of two weeks earlier than usual, 
and a second passage of Melville Bay. It is not the intention of these 
whalers, nor have they the authority, to go beyond Littleton Island. 
These steam whalers arc ably commanded, and are efficiently fitted out. 
Their masters are ambitious to secure the Greely party ; and, although 
the reward will not be a secondary consideration, they are one and all 
desirous of obtaining the prestige of the rescue. From information that 
I can gather, it would seem that the Arctic will be our only dangerous 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 14f 

competitor. She is not stronger than the Bear or Thetis, but has more 
powerful engines. I have arranged everything at this place to avoid 
any delay to the Thetis, and have left full information of every event for 
Commander Schley, also of my future intentions. 

" I am led to believe that even should the season prove most favorable, 
Commander Schley will be able to reach Upernivik before any vessel 
can undertake or attempt the passage of Melville Bay. Should he not 
arrive before I leave I feel sure my decision to sail for Cape York at the 
first moment practicable will meet with your approval and that of the 
Commander-in-chief of the expedition." 

On the 4th further intelligence had been obtained of the 
movements of the whalers, and Emory wrote : 

"The following-named vessels (steam whalers) have sailed for the whale 
fishery of Lancaster Sound and Pond's Inlet, via Melville Bay, and their 
masters are intending to go, at least to Littleton Island, in the endeavor 
to get the $25,000 reward. 

Triune, \ 

Comwallis, f Barque rigged ; sailed two or three weeks ago from 

Nova Zembla, C Dundee ; are now in Davis Straits. 

Jan Maen, ) 

Narwhal, sailed April 26, from St. John's for North Water. 
Esquimaux, " May 3, " " " 

Polynia, will sail May 4 to 5, " " " 

Arctic, " " May 6, " " " 

Aurora, " " May 7 to 8," " " 

Resolute, will sail for the east coast of Greenland. If the fishing is 
bad, may go up the west coast for the reward." 

Of the whalers mentioned, the Resolute was the only one 
which the expedition never met. The Jan Maen and the 
Esquimaux were only fallen in with on the return trip. The 
other seven, together with the Wolf, of St. John's, attempted 
the passage of Melville Bay in company with the relief ships. 

On the 4th the Bear put to sea again, bound for Disko. 
The passage was rough and stormy. On the way up the 



148 The Rescue of Greely. 

days began sensibly to lengthen, until the Arctic circle was 
reached. From this time the sun never went below the hori- 
zon, until the same point was passed on the return, and the 
officers and men experienced the novel sensation of being 
obliged to manufacture darkness for purposes of sleep. The 
first field ice was met off Holsteinborg, and on the 13th the 
Bear arrived at Godhavn. Hardly stopping, Emory hur- 
ried on, steaming up the western shore of Disko Island, but 
when abreast of Haroen, or Hare Island, he found the ice 
impenetrable. A gale was blowing from the southward with 
no signs of abating. With the wind from this direction 
nothing could be done. The danger of remaining to wind- 
ward of the pack, and near its edge, was a risk that no pru- 
dent commander could run. So the Bear returned to God- 
havn to wait for a change of wind. 

On the way back along the west shore of the island, the Bear 
sighted two steamers coming in to Godhavn. These were 
the whalers Polynia and Nova Zemhla. The Polynia had 
left St. John's the day after the Bear. She was commanded 
by Captain Walker, the oldest and most experienced of the 
whaling captains in the fleet. The Nova Zemhla had been 
cruising off the coast of Newfoundland for seals, and later 
in Davis Strait for bottle-nosed whales. These two were the 
first of the Dundee whaling fleet which were met by either 
of the relief ships in the Greenland waters. As Emory had 
been told at St. John's, they were on their annual cruise after 
fish, but they intended before going to Lancaster Sound to 
make an effort to secure the £5,000 reward. The Cornvjallis 
and Narwhal had been seen off Disko some days before, but 
had gone off to the southwest and disappeared. 

The Bear ran in and anchored near the entrance of the 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 149 

harbor, where she remained three days. During this delay 
precautions were taken to put everything in readiness, for 
the event of a possible disaster. Provisions were got up and 
stowed on deck. The boats were filled with men and provis- 
ions, and a trial of them was made to see if they would carry 
their loads. The spare propeller was got up out of the hold, 
and lashed in the port gangway. The crew was exercised in 
" abandoning ship " on the ice-foot, and torpedoes were ex- 
ploded in the ice to test their effect. 

At Godhavn the Bear purchased from Peterson, the gov- 
ernor, a team of seven trained Eskimo dogs, in addition to 
the eighteen Labrador dogs she had taken on board at St. 
John's. As a rule, the Labrador dog is a more satisfactory 
animal than his cousin from Greenland. He is a little more 
tractable and takes naturally to his work, when the Eskimo 
dog must be driven. Moreover he is a water-dog, and will 
swim from floe to floe across leads, where the other must be 
ferried over — a matter of great importance in working over 
the ice. Both breeds eat enormously, but with the difference 
that the Eskimo will not work for some time after eating, 
while Labrador dogs are ready at all times. All of them are 
savage and wolfish to a degree, and if a man falls on the ice 
they will attack him at once. 

"With an Eskimo team a king must be chosen, and the dogs 
fight day and night until the strongest comes to the front. 
During this process they are virtually useless, if they have 
not been previously trained to the sleds. Even when it is 
over, the mastery must be established anew whenever dogs 
from different teams are brought together. When the king- 
ship is once admitted the entire team are ready to yield him the 
most crouching subserviency. The king dog always lies on 



150 The Rescue of Oreely. 

the sled and the others about him on the ice. In travelling, 
a growl from the king is enough to start up all the dogs, 
and it fares ill with any one that heeds it not. A skulker 
is always punished when the team returns from a journey, 
not only by the king, but by the whole pack, who pitch upon 
him and finally kill him, if he is not rescued from them in 
time. 

The Greenland dog undergoes the worst possible treatment 
from his Eskimo master, and is made to endure all sorts of 
exposure and hardship on a minimum allowance of food — 
perhaps a pound and a half of seal meat, which he gets once 
a day. If he licks the hand he is generally rewarded with a 
kick, and if he seeks shelter he is driven off to the ice. He 
is expected to be ready at all times for work, and always to 
keep up his endurance with nothing in his stomach. If he 
dies under this treatment, his master wonders what killed him ; 
but in fact the only cause for wonder is that he manages to 
live at all. 

On Wednesday, the 21st, the wind came out from the 
north, and in the afternoon the Bear left Godhavn and 
once more steamed up to Hare Island. The two whalers had 
started betimes in the morning, but about ten o'clock in the 
evening the Bear passed them, both under sail, beating up 
to the northward. The pack was still dense, and the move- 
ment of the heavy floes in the tidal currents about the north 
end of Disko Island was full of danger. The Bear advanced 
slowly and tediously through tortuous leads, until on the 23d 
she had crossed the mouth of the Waigat and worked in to the 
land near ISToursoak. Here half a dozen natives came out in 
their kayaks, among them those whom Lieutenant Colwell 
had sent on the year before to Godhavn, to bring the 



The Departure of the Belief Squadron. 151 

Yantio the news of his approach. Colwell was on board the 
Bear, and they recognized him at once, and were made 
happy with a present of bread and tobacco. 

Steaming along the land through ice heavily rafted, the 
Bear made slow progress during the next two days. The 
mouth of Omenak Fiord was passed, and on the 25th, the 
ship was tied up to a large sheet of ice off Svarten Huk. On 
the opposite side of the sheet a third whaler, the Triune, was 
found at anchor. She had been here a week repairing her 
boilers. A few miles to the northward were two more, the 
Aurora and Cornwallis. It was learned from some of the 
Triunds people who walked over the ice to the Bear, that 
another, the Narwhal, had succeeded in getting still further 
up. Of the fleet of eight vessels that was destined to ac- 
company the relief ships into Melville Bay, these four, with 
the Polynia and Nova Zembla, some distance in the rear, 
were all that had as yet made their appearance. 

No further progress was made that day, and very little on 
the next. On the 27th, however, the pack moved off, leaving 
open water with occasional streams of ice to the northward, 
and the Bear cast off early in the morning, and putting on 
fall speed steamed all day along the coast. At seven in the 
evening she passed the Cornwallis, and at ten the Narwhal. 
Tne Aurora was still ahead, and the Aurora, as the relief 
ships afterwards learned, was not easily to be beaten. Under 
the circumstances, Emory, finding he had clear water which, 
for all he knew, might extend across the bay, continued on 
his course without stopping at Upernivik, and did not bring 
up until he reached Brown Island, eighteen miles beyond, 
where he was headed off by a solid barrier. The Aurora, 
which he had passed just before, anchored about two miles off 



152 The Rescue of Greely. 

from him on the edge of the ice, where she was joined soon 
after by the Comwallis and Narwhal. The Bear waited 
eight honrs at Brown Island, but there was not the slightest 
encouragement for expecting a break-up, and Emory reluc- 
tantly steamed back. Late in the evening he picked up a 
native in his kayak, and induced him to pilot the ship into 
Upernivik, where she arrived at 10.40 p.m., the Polynia, 
Triune, and Nova Zembla getting in from the southward 
just ahead of her. 

Meanwhile, the TJietis, after her arrival at St. John's 
on the 9th, had remained there two days and a half, long 
enough to take on board supplies similar to those received by 
the Bear, including eighteen Labrador dogs. .During this 
time the weather was foggy and rainy. Sleet storms oc- 
curred once or twice, and the temperature fell to about 40°. 
The necessary boating was wet and disagreeable work, though 
the weather did not interfere with the preparation of the 
ship for sea. During her stay the Thetis was visited by 
several of the English officers from the Tenedos, and other 
ships of war lying in port. One of the officers had been in 
the Hope with Sir Allen Young, when she rescued Leigh 
Smith, and examining the Thetis with the critical eye of an 
expert in Arctic matters, he seemed to be strongly impressed 
with the thoroughness with which she had been fitted out. 

On Saturday night, while the parts of the engine were be- 
ing connected for sea, a small brass bearing was lost in some 
unaccountable way. The next day Melville went on shore to 
replace it, but as it was Sunday, he could not induce any one 
to give him assistance, although he was free to take the keys 
of the shops to work if he chose. Nothing could be done 



The Departure of the Belief Squadron. 153 

beyond getting brass enough to enable him to fit a proper 
fixture himself, the inhabitants concluding that Americans 
were " a race of Sabbath-breakers," and that no good would 
come to them if they worked on a Sunday. 

At St. John's, one of the firemen was found to be dis- 
qualified for work and exposure at the north, and he was 
sent ashore to be returned to the United States. As one of 
the machinists had been injured on the way up, and there 
was some doubt as to the probable time of his recovery, an- 
other man was enlisted for the service. 

Among the articles taken on board at St. John's were two 
thousand pounds of beef and vegetables which were intended 
to afford all hands a fresh meat and vegetable ration once or 
twice a week until the region of deer or other game was 
reached. The beef was covered with gunny sacking 
and hung up in the rigging out of reach of the dogs. A 
day's sail from St. John's carried the ships into cold 
weather and a freezing temperature, so that the beef was 
frozen hard and all danger of spoiling removed. It was in- 
tended to keep at least two quarters exclusively for Lieuten- 
ant Greely and his party, for it was recognized from the be- 
ginning that when found they would probably be in a desti- 
tute condition. 

The coaling steamer Loch Garry, which had been char- 
tered to carry 500 tons of Cardiff coal in bags to Littleton 
Island for the use of the expedition, was found waiting at 
this point. She was an ordinary iron steamer of 1,000 tons, 
entirely unprepared for the ice, although her crew had seen 
some service at the North, and her master, Captain Robert 
Jones, was an experienced ice navigator, whose knowledge 
was of great use in the management of his ship. Notv/ith- 



154 The Rescue of Greely. 

standing her defects, the importance of having coal at hand 
was so great that it" was necessary to take some risk in get- 
ting it to the point where it was wanted. 

Ensign Chambers, of the Thetis, was detailed for duty on 
board the Loch Garry to represent the Government, and to 
protect its interests in its responsibility for the ship and 
cargo from the time of her sailing until her return to St. 
John's. Two seamen were detailed from the Thetis for 
duty with him, and were required to keep a regular watch. 
The master's position was to be verified each day, and he 
was required by written instructions to follow the directions 
given by Ensign Chambers as to his movements. While 
the two ships remained in company, the Loch Garry was di- 
rected to take a position at three cables' distance on the star- 
board quarter of the Thetis. 

The two vessels left St. John's at 6 a.m., May 12th, and 
soon after clearing the harbor were enveloped in a dense fog. 
During the afternoon the wind hauled to the northeast, and 
blew up into a gale with heavy sea, which increased very 
much the difficulty of keeping the prescribed distance. To- 
wards 5 p.m., broken lumps of ice were reported ahead, but 
they were discovered to be the washings from an iceberg 
soon after seen through the fog close aboard. At this time, 
an iceberg was looked upon with considerable concern, as a 
formidable and dangerous object, and to come within a quar- 
ter of a mile of it was regarded as getting uncomfortably 
close. A week's experience in Melville Bay produced a 
wonderful change in the feeling of awe with which a berg 
was regarded. On this occasion, the Thetis prudently got 
out of the way as soon as possible. 

The ships continued their journey, with alternations of fair 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 155 

and bad weather, meeting occasionally with field ice, until the 
morning of May 22d, when they arrived at the edge of the 
harbor ice of Godhavn. Considerable time was required to 
moor the vessels properly, as all hands lacked practical experi- 
ence with ice-implements, and several attempts were made 
before the process was successful. Afterwards during the 
cruise, when practice had made everybody familiar with the 
tools, ice-anchoring was seldom an operation of more than 
three minutes. 

The ordinary ice-anchor was a large iron hook bent 
nearly at a right angle, with a point to be inserted in a hole 
in the ice. At first, the hole for the fluke of the anchor was 
made with picks and chisels, but later ice-augers were tried 
and found to be a decided improvement. These augers, 
which had been furnished by the Ordnance Bureau for bor- 
ing holes for torpedoes, were designed by Lieutenant Brad- 
ley A. Fiske, of the Bureau, and were contrived with con- 
siderable ingenuity, after experimenting with cakes of ice in 
the ice-house at the Navy Yard at Washington. The borer 
was a half cylinder of steel, four inches in diameter and four 
feet long, with a twisted point, and the instrument was pro- 
vided with additional sections, so that its length could be ad- 
justed at four, eight, twelve, or sixteen feet, according to the 
thickness of the ice to be bored through. Generally two 
sections were sufficient. Although only intended to be used 
for torpedoes, the augers were found to serve equally well 
for ice-anchors. 

On the day after the ships arrived, a southerly gale packed 
the harbor so full of ice that they were delayed for thirty-six 
hours. During this enforced delay many little kindnesses and 
courtesies were shown to the officers and men by the authori- 



156 The Rescue of Greely. 

ties of North Greenland, Mr. Anderson, the Royal Inspector, 
and Mr. Petersen, the Governor and Chief Trader. 

As the dogs had been without a proper keeper since leav- 
ing St. John's, an Eskimo named David Danielsen was en- 
gaged for the cruise of the Thetis, and a contract was 
signed for his services as dog-driver. David had served in 
the Proteus on her voyage of the year before, and on the 
retreat had been assigned to Colwell's boat, which made the 
memorable passage alone across Melville Bay, and along 
the coast from Upernivik to Disko. In spite of the hard- 
ships and flight he had experienced on the trip, the recol- 
lection of his good fare on" board the steamer overcame any 
lingering impressions of the retreat from the wreck, and he 
was glad to go with the Thetis. Here he made the most of 
his opportunities after his scanty allowance of food at Disko, 
and in a few weeks he grew to aldermanic proportions. 

On the 2ith, at nine in the morning, the Thetis and Loch 
Garry sailed for Upernivik. At the North Fiord they came 
up to a solid ice barrier, which from its pressed-up and hum- 
mocky appearance was recognized as the polar pack of the 
last season. The Thetis rammed her way in for fifty yards, 
and lay there during the night, while the collier remained on 
the edge. Next morning a gale sprang up from the south- 
west, and the Loch Garry was sent back to Godhavn to 
await a change of wind. 

The Thetis now got everything in readiness to enter the 
ice-pack. In the sudden and treacherous movements of the 
ice, there is little opportunity to save much, if preparation 
has been delayed until a disaster occurs, and there is never 
time enough to make a selection from the variety of stores 
in a ship's hold, so as to take those which contain the most 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 157 

nourishment in the least space. Careful instructions were 
therefore given, assigning to each officer and man his indi- 
vidual duty, in case a nip made it necessary to abandon the 
ship, and everything was made ready for landing on the ice. 
Rubber knapsacks were packed and served out to each officer 
and man, containing a complete shift of under-clothing and 
foot-gear, a tablet and pencil for records or notes, and a box 
of rifle or sporting ammunition. The daily change of foot- 
gear, which comprises the whole of an Arctic toilet on the 
ice, is of the utmost importance to avoid frost-bite, the wet 
gear being dried under the clothing of the wearer on the 
march. 

Sixty days' supplies of provisions, consisting of pemmican, 
beef, pork, tea, sugar^hard biscuit, salt, and pepper, together 
with stoves, alcohol, pots, pans, and two boxes of ammunition 
for the fowling-pieces and rifles, we're stowed on deck along- 
side the boats for which they were intended, and marked ac- 
cordingly. Thereafter the provisions were regularly inspected 
from day to day to see that none should be spoilt when 
they were needed for use. Packed as they were in tin cases, 
no injury was feared from moisture or from exposure to the 
elements, and deterioration within could easily be discovered 
by the swelling of the heads of the cases. In making these 
preparations the Arctic experience of Sebree and Melville 
was found invaluable. 

As soon as everything was in readiness, the Thetis pushed 
on into the pack. It was here that the crow's-nest first came 
into frequent and important use. From its position near the 
masthead, at an elevation of 120 or 130 feet, it gives a broad 
lookout, with a range of twelve or fifteen miles in clear 
weather. The ice-fields are stretched out in a wide pano- 



158 The Rescue of Qredy. 

rama, and every lead and crack la marked ont like the lines 
on a map, when nothing can be seen from the dcelc. It is 
the only place from which the movements of a ship can be 
intelligently directed in the pack, and from the time of en- 
tering, during all the ice-work, with little intermission the 
Captain has his station here except while he is asleep. Ex- 
cept for the confinement, and the increased jar from the 
shock of ramming — which last, however, soon wears off — it 
is a comfortable place enough, and no captain who has any 
concern for his ship would occupy any ether while she is in 
the pack. 

In all the Dundee whalers, to which class the Thetis and 
Bear of course belonged, the crow's-nest is a heavy barrel 
with (Ik 4 upper head knocked out, attached to the foremast 
or mainmast, and large enough to hold a man standing Up- 
right. It is held in place by two stout iron bands fitted 
tightly around if, and secured to two others around the mast. 
The bottom is arranged as a round trap-door on heavy hinges, 
opening upward and closing down on a heavy supporting 
ledge. A seat is placed on the after side of the barrel, but 
there is not much chance to sit down while the vessel is 
working through the pack. An iron rod encircling the top 
gives a rest for the telescope. The whole structure is abaft 
the mast, and a rope ladder extends up to it from the deck. 

For directing the movements of the engine, a line extends 
from the after part of the crow's-nest to the bell-pull, by 
which the usual signals are given. For communicating with 

the helmsman on board the Thetis i an arrangement was used 
which had been suggested by Knsign Harlow. Three twine 
lines were run from the crow's-nest to the bridge, each hav- 
ing a play up and down of about a foot. On the bottom of 



The Departure of the Belief Squadron. 159 

each of tlieso lines, lead cylinders were placed, in full view of 
the quartermaster, one green, one red, and one green and 
red. A pull on the green meant " starboard," on the red, 
" port," and on the green and red, " steady." Two pulls 
meant " hard starboard," or " hard port," as the case might 
be. These simple little contrivances made it as easy to direct 
the ship from the crow's-nest as from the bridge, and avoided 
all calling out from aloft. 

To an inexperienced eye, the first impression from the 
crow's-nest, in looking over the pack, apart from its extent, 
is the solidity and apparent impenetrability of the ice, and 
the first question that presents itself is how these qualities 
are to be overcome. At first nothing can be seen that gives 
a remote prospect of advance. Gradually, as the eye becomes 
accustomed to the work, dark spots appear under the glass, 
dotting the wide expanse, which are soon learned to be water- 
holes. Presently stringy black lines come out here and 
there, suggesting a break between floes, and the possibility 
of working through them to a point beyond. After a little 
while, it is to be noticed that the ice has a movement, some- 
times slow, sometimes rapid and sudden, which may be 
closely connected with the wind, or with the ebb and flow of 
the tide. Where the tidal movement is strong, it is observed 
that the ice has a tendency to follow the axis of greatest mo- 
tion, and that both tides running along the coast draw the 
ice away from the land. Winds from the southward and 
westward pack the ice, those from the northward and cast- 
ward clear it out. The closest watchfulness must be given 
to these two all-powerful influences, wind and tide, and it is 
upon this watchfulness that the ability to seize opportunities 
for advance depends. 



160 The Rescue of Greely. 

There are also distant indications which have a peculiar 
importance. These are the " water blinks " and the " ice 
blinks." The water blink consists of dark clouds or spots on 
the horizon and is formed by the ascending mists which 
gather in clouds and hang over pools of water. It is always 
the herald of advance and is eagerly looked for. The ice 
blink, on the contrary, is distinguished by spans or bands of 
light just above the horizon, caused by the reflection from 
the pack into the atmosphere above it. It always indicates 
hard work and anxiety ahead, and is accepted as a warning, 
its intensity giving some idea of the penetrability or impene- 
trability of the pack. 

With all the watchfulness and all the skill in the world, it 
would be futile to attempt to pass through the real ice-pack 
without a ship built for ramming. An ordinary ship may 
cross Melville Bay in an ordinary season late in July or early 
in August, and may pass through some loose streams of ice, 
but she can not pass the pack. Even with the Thetis and 
the Bear, the best fitted vessels for the purpose afloat, there 
were many days when they could not move a mile in any 
direction, because the ice was too dense and too thick to 
break. Whenever the work was done, it was done by con- 
stant ramming. A crack would open for a little way, and 
the ships were pushed in. When it came to an end, the ad- 
vance ship, whichever it might be, would back a little to 
gather headway, put on full steam, and strike the ice fairly 
with her stem. In ice of ordinary thickness, if she got a 
square blow, she would run her length, perhaps twice her 
length, and often would open a crack beyond, which repeated 
blows would widen and lengthen. Sometimes a single blow, 
fairly delivered, would split a pan of ice 200 yards across. 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 161 

If the lane ended in a point, the ramming ship, where there 
was room enough, would charge the ice on the side and crack 
off a large segment, repeating the process again and again, 
rather than ram directly into the point, where there was a 
possibility that she might stick fast. If the ice was in loose 
floes, mere pushing would often dislodge them, and open the 
cracks sufficiently to pass through. But during most of the 
time, advance was only made by incessant ramming. 

After completing her preparations, the Thetis pushed on 
into the pack in the direction of Haroen Island, but found it 
slow and difficult work. Large pieces of the floe ice, called 
" pans " by the whalers, were forced aside or rammed, the blow 
giving a heavy shock to every one on board. The pack grew 
hourly denser, and each blow told less than the last, until the 
ship's headway was entirely overcome, and movement almost 
impossible. The ship was stiE three or four miles off the 
land and all leads appeared closed. The outlook from the 
crow's-nest was unpromising, and the position of the ship was 
such that her safety seemed to depend upon reaching the lee 
of a large berg a quarter of a mile to the northward. 

The clanger of the position was due to the tidal currents 
of Waigat Strait, which gave a powerful impetus to the 
movements of the ice, while the attempt to avoid them by 
seeking water to the westward would probably have resulted 
in being beset in the middle pack, and ultimately drifting 
helplessly back through Davis Strait. It seemed, therefore, 
most important to gain a position of temporary safety under 
the berg, and from there to take advantage of the first 
chance to escape to a point under the land, where the favor- 
ing winds and tides would probably give an opportunity to ad- 
vance. 

11 



162 The Rescue of Greeh). 

The wonderful changes of the ice, so often mentioned in 
accounts of Arctic voyages, enabled the Thetis an hour later 
to reach the iceberg, to which she was secured, and where 
she remained during that night in comparative safety from 
the grinding floes. The berg was two hundred feet high, 
several hundred feet long and broad, and was aground, but 
only, as was afterwards discovered, on its central point. 

A strong current, perhaps two knots, was running at the 
time to the southward, carrying great floes past the berg, or 
piling them up upon its northern side. Against these it 
afforded during the whole night a secure protection, the ship 
being moored with ice-anchors to its southern side, where 
there was, as usual, a ledge ten or twelve feet high, outside 
the nearly perpendicular rise of the central mass. About 
six o'clock in the morning, however, the berg without a mo- 
ment's warning pivoted on its centre and swung round with 
the current, exposing the ship, still held fast by the anchor, 
to the running floes. ISTo time was lost in casting off the 
lines, but before the bow-line could be slackened the stern 
of the Thetis was caught in the current and swung rapidly 
round, and her bow was thrown up against the iceberg. It 
was an ugly situation ; but fortunately no damage was done, 
except by carrying away a small part of the head-gear and 
mutilating the figure-head. Poor Thetis lost an arm and part 
of her nose, her dress was considerably torn away, her body 
was split in two, and altogether she came away from the ice- 
berg in a dilapidated state. 

After casting off the lines the ship worked to the south- 
east into a large water space, where she was forced to wait 
awhile, and where Sebree improved the opportunity to swing 
her for the local deviation of the compass, as was done on 
several other occasions. 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 163 

Later in the day (the 26th) changes in the ice made it pos- 
sible to work in further toward the land water, though heavy 
ramming was necessary at a number of points. Torpedoes 
were used with a view to reach open water on the north side 
of Haroen Island, but the jam was too formidable. Holes 
were bored with ice-augers in the ice ahead of the ship, and 
the torpedoes were exploded, bnt they did not produce the 
effect desired. 

In general, the results obtained from the use of torpedoes 
were rather disappointing. There were a few, a very few 
occasions, when they produced a marked effect and enabled 
the ships to advance, but as a rule no absolute reliance could 
be placed on them, as their action was mainly local. This is 
not to be wondered at when it is remembered that although 
sea ice during the intense cold of winter in the Arctic is both 
hard and brittle, it loses these qualities with an increase of 
temperature, and acquires great toughness and elasticity. It 
is doubtful if the Thetis and Bear could have carried ex- 
plosives enough to have blown their way through the pack 
for the 1,400 miles they were engaged in their ice battle. 
During nips, however, or to gain temporary advantages in 
leads, there can be no question that explosives are useful, and 
they should form a part of the outfit of every expedition fit- 
ted for Arctic work In the case of nips they were used to 
soften the ice around the ships, and on one occasion they 
relieved the Thetis materially when she was severely pressed 
near Horse Head. 

The explosives carried by the expedition were of gun- 1 
cotton and gunpowder. Both were contained in cylindrical 
tin cases, holding about five pounds, and fitted with electric 
fuses and connections. Experiments were made at Disko in 



164 The Rescue of Greely. 

placing them on the surface, and at different depths, half way 
through the ice, just below it, and six feet under water, and 
it was found that the best results were obtained when the 
torpedo was well under the ice. Gunpowder was found to 
work better than gun-cotton. The instantaneous explosion 
of gun-cotton simply blew holes without shattering. Gun- 
powder, being a slower explosive, acted radially, and disrupted 
the ice about the water-cone formed in the upheaval. 

It was now decided to attempt to gain the open water on 
the west side of the island, which was at last successfully ac- 
complished. The advantage was held by standing north and 
south along the land. At this point the Loch Garry rejoined 
the Thetis. About two o'clock on the morning of the 28th 
the Wolf came up, a sealing steamer from St. John's. She 
was now on a whaling voyage, intending to follow the usual 
route of the Dundee fleet. Captain Burnett, who commanded 
her, came on board the TJietis to have a chat and a look at the 
ship. The Wolf belonged to the firm from which the Bear 
had been purchased, and was a sister ship of the Bloodhound, 
which the English Government had taken for the Nares Ex- 
pedition, and renamed the Discovery. She was a staunch 
ship, and her Captain a fine seaman, who was intent on mak 
ing up, by a good catch of fish, for past ill-luck. His ship 
was the first of the whalers that the Thetis met, and, with 
the exception of one of the Dundee ships, she held out longest 
in the race across Melville Bay. 

The Wolf ran up to look at the ice across the Waigat, but 
found it too stiff to attempt until the tide changed, and she 
returned a quarter of a mile to the southward to wait. In 
the meantime another whaler came up, the Arctic, of Dun- 
dee, commanded by Captain Guy. She was a comparatively 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 1G5 

new vessel, built to replace the old Arctic, whose name was 
the most famous in the annals of the Dundee whale-fishery, 
and she was the vessel which Emory had mentioned as the 
" most dangerous competitor " of the relief squadron. Her 
captain was one of the best men in the service, and was de- 
termined that the reputation of the ship should lose nothing 
while she was under his command. 

About eight o'clock in the morning, the four vessels took 
to the pack. The Arctic and Thetis succeeded in gaining 
open water first, followed at some distance by the Wolf and 
Loch Garry. The masses of ice were in motion, forcing the 
four ships into as many different routes. Soon after entering 
the pack, it was noticed that the Loch Garry was deficient in 
the turning power needed in ice navigation, and, therefore, 
could not follow quickly enough to keep always in the track 
broken by the Thetis. The Wolf balked her considerably, 
although unintentionally, the captain of the whaler striving 
with all his power to aid her. By the middle of the day, 
however, the land-water in the vicinity of ISToursoak was 
reached, and a number of natives fishing in their kayaks 
were spoken. From them it was learned that the Bear had 
been detained at that point while waiting for the ice move- 
ment northward. 

A dense fog now settled over everything, followed by a 
blinding snow-storm in the afternoon ; a sudden fall of temper- 
ature coated the ship and rigging with rime. The land could 
not be seen, and it was next to impossible to discover the best 
leads. Under these circumstances, it was necessary to aver- 
age courses by going east of one floe and west of another dur- 
ing the afternoon and night of the 28th. After a most 
exciting and anxious passage, the Thetis, on the morning 



166 The Rescue of Greely. 

of the 29th, arrived safely off Upernivik. The strain of 
twenty consecutive hours in the crow's-nest can only be ap- 
preciated by one who has experienced it. 

The Bear had arrived the night before from Brown 
Island, about eighteen miles north, and when the Thetis 
came in, she was found at anchor with the Polynia, Triune, 
and Nova Zembla, which had got in while she was to the 
northward. The Arctic and Wolf followed closely after the 
Thetis, and these, with the Aurora, Cornwallis, and Nar- 
whal, which had not put in at Upernivik, but had stopped 
at Brown Island, made up the eight whaling ships with which 
the Thetis and the Bear were now to contest the honors of 
the passage of Melville Bay. 

Soon after the arrival of the Thetis, Emory came on board 
to report his experiences and to get the mail which her later 
departure enabled her to bring. It was found that a rumor 
had reached Upernivik that five white men were to the 
north in the neighborhood of Cape York, and it was decided 
to push on at once. The collier was sent alongside the Bear, 
to fill the coal bunkers of the latter, and during this interval 
the commanders and officers of the relief ships called upon 
Governor Elborg, who showed them the same kindness which 
all explorers or voyagers in this region have received at his 
hands. He gave a discouraging report of the ice to the 
northward, but stated that the natives had reported a crack 
inside the islands leading as far as Tassuisak, which might be 
utilized if a native pilot could be secured. On being asked 
to name one whom he thought efficient, he said that a man 
named Ooloo, living at Kingitok, knew most of the coast and 
dangers to the northward. If he could be obtained, the 
chances of reaching Tassuisak at an early day would be good. 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 167 

It was .agreed that Governor Elborg should go on board the 
Thetis to Kingitok, to secure Ooloo's services, and at 5 p.m. 
the relief ships sailed northward. 

At Upernivik, a second Eskimo, Nicolai, was engaged for 
the Bear as interpreter, as Hans, the man shipped at Disko 
as dog-driver, could not speak English. 

As the ice in Melville Bay was too formidable for the col- 
lier, she was directed to remain at Upernivik and await the 
arrival of the Alert, which would convoy her across to Smith 
Sound. She was also directed to land fifty tons of coal as a 
base of supply on the return, and during her delay to secure 
herself against dangers from the ice. 

The sailing orders of the Alert, issued before the departure 
of the Thetis, directed her to proceed at the earliest possible 
date to St. John's, thence to Godhavn and Upernivik, 
where information could be obtained of the advance vessels, 
and so on to Littleton Island, touching at Conical Rock, Cape 
Parry, and Cape Alexander to examine cairns. 

At Littleton Island, if the Thetis and Bear were absent to 
the northward, a sledge party of eight persons, with provi- 
sions for fifty days, was to be sent to search the south coast 
of Kane Basin, as far as the Humboldt Glacier. As soon as 
the party had got off, the Alert was to proceed to Foulke 
Fiord, where the house brought from New York was to be 
landed and put up. In the house were to be stored all the 
provisions possible, leaving in the vessel only enough to sup- 
ply the crew on the voyage back to New York. Forty tons 
of coal were to be landed, and the station was to be placed in 
charge of an officer and two men. The party was to be sup- 
plied with guns and ammunition, and a steam cutter and 



1G8 The Rescue of Greely. 

whale-boat were to be left with them. During their stay 
they were to set up the instruments furnished by the Signal 
Office, and take the observations directed in its programme. 

The Alert was intended to remain at Foulke Fiord until 
September 10th. If nothing was heard of the advance ships 
by that time, she was to run up to Littleton Island and over 
to Cape Sabine to look out for signals, and if nothing was 
observed, to return to Upernivik or Disko, to wait for tidings 
of the expedition. If no news came by September 25th, the 
Alert was to return to St. John's. 

It was expected that the collier would meet the Alert at 
Foulke Fiord, and Coffin was directed to take the remainder 
of her coal cargo, and send her back to Newfoundland. 

The inability of the Loch Garry to cross Melville Bay led 
to a modification of this programme. The Alert left New 
York on the date fixed, May 10th, followed by the same 
good wishes and popular demonstrations that had been given 
to the advance ships. As she got under way, the British en- 
sign was hoisted at the fore, and was kept flying as she 
steamed down the harbor, the Navy Yard saluting it with 
twenty-one guns. Like the other ships, the Alert was pro- 
vided with stores for two years, and carried on her spar deck 
the frames and lumber for the two houses for the winter 
quarters at Foulke Fiord, where it was intended to maintain 
a depot upon winch to fall back, if disaster should overtake 
the advance ships. She reached St. John's on the 22d, and 
Goclhavn on June 5th. At this point she took on board the 
twenty-five Eskimo dogs ordered by Lieutenant Garlington 
the year before, and engaged a dog-driver. Although it had 
not been intended to supply the Alert with dogs, it was after- 
wards deemed wise that she should carry them, and as this 



The Departure of the Relief Squadron. 169 

team had been ordered by Garlington, and had been collected 
at Disko on the strength of this order, instructions for Coffin 
to take them had been left when the Thetis was at Disko. 
During the stay in port, the crew were practiced in the use 
of ice tools and torpedoes, and exercised in " abandoning 
ship," all hands landing at the drill upon the ice, and the 
boats being hauled out with thirty days' provisions. The 
ship sailed from Godhavn June 9th, and after a passage of 
very much the same character as that of the other vessels, 
retched Upernivik June 13th, about two weeks after the 
others. 

The Loch Garry was awaiting her arrival, and Coffin re- 
ceived the instructions informing him that she was left be- 
hind to come on later under his convoy, the ice to the north- 
ward making it unsafe to venture with her so early. Under 
these orders the Alert was obliged to delay her departure 
until the condition of the ice in Melville Bay was favorable 
to the passage of the collier. The time was occupied in coal- 
ing and in exercises similar to those practiced at Disko. The 
Alert's bunkers were filled and a quantity of coal stowed on 
deck, so that if accident should befall the Loch Garry, the 
Alert would still have enough to make a depot at Foulke 
Fiord. This done, the two vessels waited for the moving of 
the ice. 



CHAPTER X. 

MELVILLE BAY. 

At five o'clock on the afternoon of May 29th, the Thetis 
and the Bear left their anchorage at Upernivik, and started 
on the passage of Melville Bay. The same stretch of water 
had been crossed by the Proteus, with Greely on board, in 
1881, in thirty-six hours; by the Neptune, with Beebe, in 
1832, in eighty hours ; and by the Proteus again, with Gar- 
lington, in 1883, in seventy-two hours. All these passages 
had been made at least a month later in the season. But 
Melville Bay in June is a very different place from Melville 
Bay in July or August ; and the Thetis and Bear, making 
every effort, seizing every opening and lead, and fighting for 
every inch of progress, were forced to consume twenty days 
in reaching Caj^e York. 

After leaving Upernivik, the two vessels touched at one or 
two points to obtain seal-meat for the dogs, and arrived a lit- 
tle after nine o'clock p.m., at the island of Kingitok, formerly 
a Danish trading post. The settlement consisted of a few 
Eskimo huts, with an abandoned storehouse. Here the relief 
ships took up a berth alongside of the Arctic, the seven other 
whalers lying on the seaward side of the island. Governor 
Elborg was still on board the Thetis, and soon after the ves- 
sel had anchored, he sent for Ooloo, the native pilot whom he 
had hoped to secure for the expedition. Ooloo was an Eski- 
mo of low stature, with a frank and intelligent face. He 
(170) 



Melville Bay. 171 

was the head man of the settlement, and a man upon whom 
the Governor placed great reliance. Several interviews were 
held with him, but his wife had just died, leaving several 
small children for him to look after, and though the prospect 
of plenty of food and a warm sleeping-berth on board the 
Thetis was a strong temptation, he could not be induced to 
leave his family. His supply of English words was limited, 
but he managed to convey his ideas by saying : " Mi go 
muchee, — hab spleke pagoninnies, ketch plenty die. Come 
more time, pagonninny more big, Ooloo can go." All of 
which meant that he would like to go, and had spoken to his 
children, but they thought they would die if they were left 
alone ; but when the ship came back, his children would be 
larger, and then he could go. While he would have been of 
some use in working through this dangerous part of the coast, 
it seemed rather hard to repress such commendable senti- 
ments, and the effort was finally given up. 

On the afternoon of Friday, the 30th, Elborg started back 
in his whale-boat, but returned in a little while, having been 
unable to get through the ice. He was off again in the even- 
ing, however, this time for good, and carried back to Uper- 
nivik a mail from the ships, which everybody sent as the last 
message for home and friends before an indefinite stay in the 
Arctic. The " last message " was picked up at Upernivik 
by the ships on their return, no opportunity having occurred 
to send it off in the meantime. 

All the ships were detained at Kingitok for two days. 
Parties of officers were sent repeatedly to the hill-top with 
glasses, but no signs were visible of a break in the ice. On 
Saturday, the dog teams were exercised on the island. The 
whaling captains crossed the pool of open water in their 



172 The Rescue of Greely. 

steam launches and visited the ships, and the Bear steamed 
about the harbor to ascertain the local deviations of the 
compass. 

On Sunday, the first of June, a squall from the southwest 
broke up the ice in the harbor, destroying the ice-foot, and 
the ships ran around to the north side of the island to get out 
of the way of the running pack. Soon after, leads were dis- 
covered to the northward and westward, and all the ships 
cast off and followed them. By the afternoon they had 
reached a point east of Berry Island. Ahead, the way was 
blocked by impassable ice, and the ships were again tied up, 
three of the whalers being to the eastward, lying close under 
the land. 

Soon after her arrival, the Bear discovered a lead inshore, 
and was pushing through it, leading the Thetis, when she 
ran upon a rock. The rock was just between two icebergs 
which were at least forty feet out of water, and at the 
usual ratio of one to seven between the heights of the exposed 
and the under-water surfaces, the depth at this point could 
not be less than 280 feet, or 47 fathoms. Every precaution 
had been taken on board the Bear — but no care will prevent a 
vessel from striking an unknown rock fourteen feet under 
water, where all the indications point to a considerable depth ; 
and the Thetis was not without mishaps of the same kind. 

The islands off Tassuisak were reached later in the day, 
and the injury to the Bear was examined by means of a 
water-telescope — a contrivance used by the whalers, made of 
ordinary stove-piping, with a glass fitted in the lower end to 
exclude water. It was pushed a foot or two under the 
water with the glass end down, and showed exactly the na- 
ture and extent of the injury. This was found to be less 



Melville Bay. 173 

serious than was at first supposed. Three or fuur inches of 
the stem-plate were broken off at the bottom, two keel-straps 
were knocked off, and a piece of the fore-foot and a little of 
the sheathing were gone. The wood ends were uninjured, 
however, and the leak, which was at first seven inches per 
hour, was very soon stopped. 

During all the next day, everybody remained fast in the ice. 
Four of the whalers could be seen to the east near the land, 
and four to the west. There was so little movement in the 
pack that the four ships lying beset to seaward did not even 
shift their bearings during the day. All through the pack 
could be seen numbers of icebergs, of all shapes and sizes ; 
the ice was studded with them. An attempt was made to 
force a lead by ramming, but after making a little progress 
the ice was found to be too solid, and it was abandoned. 

On the 3d, some natives came off with sledges to the 
Narwhal, and Nicolai was sent to get information. As they 
reported clear water to the northward, the Thetis and Bear 
cast off and steamed in and out among the islands and ice- 
bergs, following such leads as they could find, which turned and 
twisted in every conceivable direction. At one time the Thetis 
passed so close to a berg that she had to brace her yards sharp 
up to get by. It goes without saying that it was impossible 
to take anything like courses here — or, in fact, anywhere else 
in Melville Bay at this season. When the ship was advanc- 
ing, her progress could only be determined by taking bear- 
ings of an iceberg, and estimating its distance after passing a 
few miles beyond. The charts were of little help ; in fact, 
part of the time the ships were steaming over places which 
the chart gave as land. In the afternoon a well-marked lead 
was followed for some distance by ramming, but it ended in 



174 The Rescue of Greely. 

a bar, and the attempt to pass through "was given up for 
the time, the ships again making fast to the ice near Wedge 
Island. Soon after anchoring, three natives came out with 
sleds from Titliasook, who contradicted the reports of the 
morning and gave the discouraging information that there 
was no open water to the north, and that the ice extended 
beyond Cape Shackleton. 

During Wednesday, the 4th, the ships were visited by 
numbers of natives from Tassuisak, the northernmost of the 
Danish settlements, a little village lying embayed among the 
islands. These Eskimo are the most northerly of the native 
inhabitants under the Danish control, and like those seen 
farther south, were of medium stature, and covered with 
smoke soot, grease, and other dirt, which seemed to vary only 
with the age of the individual. As water never touches 
these people except by accident, the accumulation of dirt on 
their faces was a fair indication of their age. 

The Governor of Tassuisak, Kleeman, also came off in his 
dog- sled, and by earnest representations of the danger of the 
exposed position in which the ships were lying, persuaded the 
Commander of the Expedition, rather against his judgment, 
to put into the harbor, where the ships were anchored to the 
ice off the governor's house. Within three hours after an- 
choring, the lead of the day before opened for several miles. 
Casting off their lines, and putting on full steam, they made 
a rush to get through, but were just too late. The Thetis 
was ahead and ramming her best at a place off Horse Head, 
where the lane narrowed down to a point, trying to crack off 
a piece of ice at the side, but not having room enough to 
strike fairly, she glanced off, and was driven into the sharp 
point of the crack. At the same moment the ice closed, and 
she was held fast in the nit). 



Melwille Bay. 175 

As the Bear was clear, although she had no room for turn- 
ing, hawsers were run to her bow from the stern of the 
Thetis, and both vessels reversed their engines and put on a 
full head of steam ; but the Thetis, driven into the crack, 
like a wedge between the fibres of a tree, would not budge 
an inch, and a three-inch steel and six-inch manilla hawser 
were parted in the attempt to haul her out. Holes were 
then bored in the ice and torpedoes were exploded in them, 
to break a way before the ship. Five gunpowder torpedoes 
were first planted in the line of the lead ahead, about fifteen 
feet apart, and six feet from the surface, the holes being 
bored through two layers of ice, in all eight feet thick. The 
result of the explosion was a crack, and some lateral fracture, 
the crack reaching to the open water beyond ; but the ship 
was not eased from the nip. A single gunpowder torpedo 
was next exploded on the port bow without results. An 
hour later five gun-cotton and six gunpowder torpedoes were 
exploded off the starboard bow and beam. The result was 
again disappointing, the gun-cotton making circular holes 
four feet in diameter, with no perceptible shattering, and the 
gunpowder making smaller holes with a few inconsiderable 
cracks. The only substantial effect of the torpedoes was in 
softening the ice at the side of the ship, which thus formed 
a cushion and relieved her from the heaviest pressure ; but 
she remained fast in the grip of the pack, and no force could 
move her. The Thetis stood the strain handsomely, and 
while the nip lasted, it crushed up the ice against her side, 
and raised her bow three or four feet, but without starting a 
timber. 

On the next moving the pack slacked off a little and the 
Thetis was released. It was found that she had sustained no 



176 Tlte Rescue of Greely. 

injury. After she had extricated herself, she succeeded, by 
backing and ramming under full speed, in making her way 
through the obstruction and into the narrow stream of open 
water beyond, followed by the Bear. This stream continued 
to the northward, but for the rest of the day progress was 
slow. Icebergs were numerous, the leads were narrow and 
required frequent ramming, and it was only occasionally that 
large floes could be forced aside. Every mile of northing 
brought the ships into contact with heavier and more for- 
midable pack. Cape Shackleton was passed at three in the 
afternoon, and at six the two ships were stopped by a barrier 
about five miles south of the Duck Islands, where they were 
moored to the floe. Here they came up with five of the 
whalers, which had passed them during the nip at Horse 
Head. A sixth, the Polynia, had followed through the 
leads astern of the Bear, up to the moorings ; and the re- 
maining two, the Triune and the Nova Zembla, were to be 
seen five miles to the southward in the offing. 

On the morning of the 6th, the ships made an advance of 
two miles, and coming to an ice-bar, butted two or tliree 
lengths into the floe, and made a dock for themselves. The 
Duck Islands were still three miles away. In the afternoon 
slight changes appeared to the northward, and little openings 
could be seen here and there, inviting a fresh attack. The 
bar of ice lying directly in front of the ships showed no signs 
of weakening, but it was necessary to penetrate it before they 
could arrive at the leads beyond. In the evening an opening 
occurred just ahead of the Arctic, and that vessel and the 
Aurora, the most active of the whalers, charged the ice with 
the TJictls and the Bear. The two whalers forced their way 
through first, and worked up tlirough the cracks beyond. 



Melville Bay. 177 

Tlie Bear was the next to break through, and found a wind- 
ing lead, just wide enough for her to squeeze into it. The 
Thetis followed close behind her, and the six other whalers 
came after in her wake, using the openings that had been cut 
through the bar. Later the Thetis and Bear changed places. 
It was about nine in the evening when the movement began, 
but the day was clear and fine, and the view from the crow's- 
nest extended over miles of glittering ice. The eight ships 
were under full steam, and they made a picturesque and 
beautiful sight in the bright sunlight as they wound their 
way in line ahead, through tortuous lanes and past lofty ice- 
bergs, each one with her bow almost over the taffrail of the 
next ahead, the captains hailing each other from the crow's- 
nests, and the ships glancing off on corners, and swinging 
round into the leads beyond. A little before one o'clock in 
the morning, the long fleet had reached the belt of open 
water just under the islands, and had moored to the ice-foor. 
The Duck Islands are regarded as the outpost for advance 
through the much-dreaded waters of Melville Bay. Here 
the first problem to be solved before the passage can be 
undertaken is to determine the land ice from the floe. The 
line of land ice varies with each month of the short Arctic 
summer, breaking off further and further in as the season 
advances. Usually, the first break determines the line for 
about a month after it occurs, and, if the pack is still in the 
bay, a ship must wait for this break. As the floes detach 
from the land ice, they drift off under the influence of the 
wind or tide, leaving behind them the narrow lanes which are 
called "leads." Winds from the north or tides from the 
north are always favorable. Winds or tides from the south 
are always unfavorable and dangerous, as they drive the 
12 



178 The Rescue of Greely. 

whole mass of detached floe back against the laud ice, and the 
point where they come together is the dreaded nip. Woe to 
any ship caught between these two masses ! As the line of 
breakage, however, is always ragged and irregular, any move- 
ment of the floe parallel to the edge of the land ice will bring 
the projections of one opposite those of the other, so that 
when the masses are driven together again the edges do not 
fit. A ship working along the edge of the land ice can 
almost always find a refuge in case of a nip in the natural 
docks formed by these open spaces. It is in order to be in 
the best position for advancing through the lead as soon as it 
opens that it is so important to determine land from floe ice. 
Another reason for its importance is that there is always 
danger with northerly winds and the low temperature which 
they bring with them, if the ship is lying in the floe ice, that 
she will be frozen in, in which case she is likely to drift oif 
with the pack, and ultimately to drive back through Davis 
Strait, as happened to McClintock in the Fox during the 
unfavorable season of 1857. If the ship is well in with the 
land ice she can moor to it, and if necessary she can ram or 
blow out a dock to avoid nips. 

The next four days, from the 7th to the 11th, were days 
of anxious waiting and watching. The ships could not move 
from their anchorage. The weather was generally fine, 
though with occasional foo;s and snow-storms. When it was 
clear, a lookout was sent to the summit of the hills on the 
islands to discover any possible chance of advance. Very- 
little comfort was derived from these visits. The vast sea of 
ice lay unbroken to the north and west. Sometimes it 
seemed as if it would never break up. The countless ice- 
bergs lay in stately and silent splendor, with here and there a 



Melville Bay. 179 

slight pool of water about them. This last was a promising 
sign, and the expedition had by this time learned that the 
changes with every turn of a kaleidoscope are not more com- 
plete or surprising than those which follow a tidal movement 
or a gale in the ice. 

The anchorage of the relief ships during the four days of 
waiting was close to the western end of Middle Duck Island. 
All the whalers, except the Arctic and Aurora, lay on the 
other side of the island. Occasional movements were made 
by one or the other of them, in an attempt to gain some little 
advantage, but none of the attempts came to anything. The 
Wolf and Narwhal steamed off five or six miles to sea- 
ward, where they were beset in the ice, and for the next two 
days they could be seen at intervals, through the fog, drift- 
ing helplessly in the pack, back and forth to the southward 
and westward. Early on the morning of the 10th, the 
Aurora tried her luck with much the same result, at first, 
and at midnight she could just be descried endeavoring to 
fight her way out of the pack. Her captain, Fairweatker, 
was a shrewd young Scotchman, who never lost a good 
chance, but who never ventured on a bad one, and on this 
occasion, although he gained nothing at the beginning, he 
came out ahead in the end, for he was found the next day 
some miles to the northward. Among the captains who 
thought it wiser to remain stationary were the two who rep- 
resented the extreme types of boldness and prudence in the 
fleet. These were Guy, of the Arctic, and Walker, of the 
Polynia. Guy was a gallant young fellow, ambitious and 
daring to a degree, and the ship he commanded, as has been 
already said, bore a name which had always been the most 
famous among the Dundee whalers. He was determined to 



180 The Rescue of Greely., 

keep up the reputation of the Arctic on this cruise, and he 
had in view both the rescue and the summer's catch. Wal- 
ker, on the other hand, who was the oldest and most experi- 
enced of the captains, a thorough seaman and a capable ice 
navigator, as well as a man of wide information and superior 
intelligence, represented the element of conservatism. His 
age and experience, and his position as the " Dean," so to 
speak, of the fleet, gave his opinion great weight with most 
of his companions, who always spoke of him respectfully as 
" the old man," and generally followed his lead. But the 
qualities which are perhaps the most advantageous for ordi- 
nary cruising after whales, are not those which will effect a 
rescue where competition is keen, and speed is an all-import- 
ant factor in the result. This was shown in the subsequent 
movements of the whalers, by which they became separated 
into two parties, and the greater number following Walker 
were thrown out of the race, while the Arctic, Aurora, and 
Wolf kept it up nearly to Cape York. 

Before the ships left the Duck Islands, the officers of the 
relief expedition had an opportunity to see the whaling ves- 
sels pretty thoroughly, and to learn the characteristics of 
their captains. Fine fellows they were, these ice-kings of 
the Dundee fleet, with their bronzed faces and their hearty 
laugh, and their broad Scotch accent ; frank and genial, gen- 
erous in their rivalry, always ready to give a friendly counsel 
or a helping hand, and taking a keen enjoyment in their dif- 
ficult and dangerous work. Their equipment was generally 
inferior to that of the relief ships, which had been supplied 
with everything purchasable that it was supposed they could 
need. Of course the one great advantage possessed by the 
whalers was in their experience. It is a question, however, 



Melville Bay. 181 

whether the importance of this quality in such work as the 
expedition had on hand may not be overestimated. The 
purpose of the voyage was to make a dash into a difficult 
region, and accomplish the rescue of the missing party of ex- 
plorers, and the first consideration was to get north at the 
earliest possible moment. In carrying out such a duty, it is 
often necessary to take risks which could not be justified 
under other conditions of service, and at which the caution 
which comes from experience would perhaps hesitate. More- 
over, a man who is always on the watch, and upon whom 
rests the responsibility of directing the movements of one or 
two ships, gains his experience in these regions with wonder- 
ful rapidity. His eye soon becomes trained to the signs of 
coming changes, and he learns to think and to act with a 
quickness and accuracy that often surprise himself. The 
crow's-nest, during the first week in June in Melville Bay, is 
a great educator, and if a commander is lucky enough not to 
fall a victim to his inexperience during that week, he will 
find himself and his ship pretty well in hand by the end of it. 
These views only serve to bear out the opinions expressed 
by one of our most distinguished and successful Arctic 
explorers, Lieutenant Schwatka, of the Army. In draw- 
ing up suggestions for the Greely Relief Board, Lieutenant 
Schwatka said : "I think it proper, in closing, to warn them 
(the Board) against too much reliance in the subject of expe- 
rience, as applied to Arctic affairs. The whole history of 
continued Arctic expeditions under one commander, will 
show a far larger list of retrogradations than advancement 
in success ; noticeably the continued expeditions of Franklin, 
Parry, Barentz, Hudson, Hall, Kane, McClure, Back, and 
probably a score of others who had served previously as com- 



182 The Rescue of Greely. 

manders or in subordinate capacities : and all this I can ac- 
count for only on the ground of a too rigid application of 
their principles of experience." 

The whalers, as has been already stated, begin their annual 
cruise in January, or early in February. They go first to 
St. John's, where they take on board a large number of extra 
hands for the sealing cruise off the coast of Labrador. In 
these trips the Thetis often carried as many as throe hundred 
men. A sealing captain supersedes the whaling captain, who 
remains on board, but generally as a looker-on. After the 
vessel arrives at the fishing ground, the extra hands are em- 
ployed in killing seals on the ice. Immense numbers of 
seals are taken, and every corner of the ship is filled with 
them. Even the spar-deck is piled up with them, level with 
the gunwale, so that the crew walk over them when on deck. 
After the middle of April the catching of the young seals is 
forbidden by law, and the ships return to St. John's, unload 
their cargoes, discharge the sealing captain and crew, and pre- 
pare for the whaliug cruise of the summer. 

The whaling captain has now resumed his position, and 
late in April or early in May, according to the season, the 
ship leaves St. John's for the southwest fishing grounds, off 
the southern coast of Greenland. Here it is a great advan- 
tage to arrive first on the ground, as the whales are timid, 
and late comers are apt to find that the fish have been scared 
away. 

After three weeks in this latitude the whalers steam to 
the northward, to Disko and Upernivik. It was while mak- 
ing this passage that they were first met by the relief ships. 
Heading for Cape York they cross Melville Bay, and after 



Melville Bay. 183 

reaching the north water they steer to the westward to Lan- 
caster Sound, where their west-side fishing usually begins. 
If the Sound is open it is followed up to Prince Kegent's 
Inlet, and the fishing is prosecuted with great energy during 
July and August. In September the whales begin to mi- 
grate southward, and they are followed along the west coast 
as far as Home Bay. By this time the falling temperature 
announces the approach of winter, and it is no longer safe to 
remain beyond the Arctic circle. The whalers then seize 
the first opportunity to work out of the ice, and by the mid- 
dle of October they have returned. to Dundee. As they gen- 
erally cruise in company, the stronger and better help the 
weaker by breaking the way, or, if necessary, by towing them 
out of danger. A captain who would abandon another in 
the ice, when he could help him, would peril his future em- 
ployment, if he escaped being stoned in the streets of Dun- 
dee. It is said of one of the captains, who some years ago 
abandoned a consort to her fate in the ice, that as he came in 
sight of the home port he preferred drowning himself off the 
heads rather than face the storm of indignation that would 
follow the disclosure. 

While the relief ships were at the Duck Islands, the officers 
were initiated in the mysteries of a " Mollie." Whenever 
the whaling fleet is stopped for a number of days in the ice, 
it is the practice for the captains to assemble on board one or 
the other of the ships to discuss the prospects of the season's 
catch. These interviews are called ''Mollies," and are an- 
nounced by a bucket hoisted as a signal at the fore-royal 
masthead. The meeting is decidedly of a convivial character, 
and the current of conversation is helped on by frequent 
potations of hot Scotch whisky and beer ; so that, generally 
speaking, a " Mollie " means making a night of it. 



18i The Rescue of Cheeky. 

During the enforced delay at the Duck Islands, the time 
was occupied by the crews of the relief ships in visiting the 
whalers, and shooting, and in boat-sailing and fishing in a 
pool of water on the seaward side. Lieutenants Sebree and 
Crosby, the navigating officers of the Thetis and Bear, took 
the opportunity to make a survey of the islands. Instru- 
ments were got up, stations were established, a base line 
measured, angles were taken and plotted, and the local 
deviation of the compass was determined. The result of the 
observations showed the islands to be about six miles out of 
position on the chart. The surveyors were anxious to do 
more, but the open water to the southward and other signs 
gave hopes of a possible break in the ice, and the work was 
suddenly brought to an end. 

The indications, however, proved somewhat delusive. At 
C>.15 on the morning of the 11th, the lines were cast off, and 
the ships got under way, but, after a run of four hours in a 
dense fog, it was found that the leads tended toward the 
land ice, and a short distance beyond they were closed up by 
the fresh northwesterly breeze that was blowing at the time. 
Captain Guy had, as usual, been the first to take advantage 
of the change, and had got off with the Arctic some little 
time before the relief ships. The three whalers which had 
already gone out, the Wolf, Narwhal, and Aurora, had 
extricated themselves during the night, and worked up to 
the northward, whither the Arctic had followed them, and 
all four were together at anchor three or four miles away, when 
the Thetis and Bear came to a stop. The latter had made an 
advance of thirteen miles in their four hours' run. Towards 
noon the weather cleared, and the Polynia, Triune, Nova 
Zembla, and Cornwallis came up to the relief ships and 
anchored near by. 



Melville Bay. 185 

The anchorage of the Thetis and Bear was on the edge of 
an ice-bar. Beyond the bar could be seen a fairly promising 
crack leading in the direction of the advance whalers. For 
a long time the bar was attacked by ramming, without suc- 
cess. By the middle of the afternoon the ice had slackened, 
and a passage opening, the ships went through it easily, and 
at the end of three miles stopped at the edge of a floe, along- 
side of the Aurora and Narwhal. The Arctic was not far 
off to the east, and the Wolf two miles away to the west. 
The other whalers had not moved from their last anchorage, 
which was now three miles astern of the relief ships. 

At six o'clock the ice in the lead where the four ships 
were lying suddenly gave signs of closing, and there was a 
general scattering, the Narwhal moving off in one direction, 
and the Thetis and Bear in another, bringing up finally just 
astern of the Arctic. Captain Fairweather in the Aurora 
apparently thought that he had seen enough of the pack in 
this neighborhood, for he steamed back through the lead as 
fast as possible to the southward, but was caught before he 
could get through, and lay jammed all night. The outlook 
was indeed most unpromising ; ice everywhere, and no leads 
except irregular little cracks, which were constantly opening 
and as quickly closing up again ; and the islands were so far 
off that there was no fast ice, which was at least something 
whose position and stability could be more or less counted on. 

This appeared to be the opinion of the whalers to the 
southward, for the next morning, June 12th, they all put 
back to the Duck Islands and anchored securely to the ice- 
foot, where the Aurora had preceded them, having released 
herself from the jam. The Arctic, Wolf, and Narwhal still 
held their ground, the former in her advanced position, hav- 



136 The Rescue of Greely. 

ing been joined in the last movement of the day before by 
the Thetis and Bear. There was nothing now to be done 
but to keep clear of nips. The wind had come out from the 
southward, and nothing short of a northerly gale would bring 
about a break-up. 

In the morning the crews were exercised at abandoning 
ship. At two o'clock in the afternoon the tide turned, loos- 
ening the ice a little, and soon after three all the ships, ex- 
cept the Narwhal, got under way. They crept along through 
short narrow cracks for an hour and a half, moving very gin- 
gerly and feeling their way, not without considerable appre- 
hension, for they were now in the midst of the pack, directly 
in the bight of the bay, and a sudden movement of the ice 
in any direction might place them in a critical position. At 
4.45 the Thetis, Bear, and Arctic made fast again, the ice 
resisting all attempts to force a lead. The Wolf came up an 
hour later, but the Narwhal gave up the attempt, and 
steamed back to join the others to the southward. 

The last move had resulted in an advance of one mile. It 
was hardly enough to be a source of much encouragement, 
but still a point in advance, and where progress could only be 
made by incessant struggling, inch by inch, it at least repre- 
sented something for the day's effort. 

Friday, the 13th, was another day of waiting. As the 
weather was good, and the ice solid in every direction, the 
crews of the relief ships were allowed to amuse themselves 
in hunting for bears and seals. The hummocky surface of 
the ice was favorable to the sport, but the men did not get 
anything. One of the seamen of the Thetis, a captain of the 
top, named Mitre, who had been separated from the rest of 
the party, was sauntering along on his way back, when a 



IfeMlle Bay. 187 

young bear picked up his trail, and followed him to within a 
hundred yards of the ship, Mitre being all the while uncon- 
scious that the animal was behind him. The people on 
board the Arctic watched the pair for a time with much 
amusement, and when Mitre was safely over a crack that lay 
in his path, they chased the bear across the ice and shot him. 
After this, " Mitre's bear hunt " was a standing joke with the 
crew, and he was chaffed unmercifully by his companions 
during the rest of the cruise. 

During most of this day none of the four ships moved 
from their anchorage. The Wolf was some little distance to 
the southward, but the Arctic still remained with the relief 
ships. The other group of whalers which had taken to the Duck 
Islands, had now made off to what they thought was a lead 
inshore, and they could be seen hull down, well away to the 
southeast, near the Sugar Loaf, a snowy peak on the Green- 
land coast. 

Late in the afternoon the Thetis and Bear made a strug- 
gle to advance, the broken appearance about the edges of the 
large floes giving some little promise of success. After work- 
ing for a couple of hours, they had made only two miles. 
Though the pack was broken, the pieces were too close to 
push through, and the blue flinty ice was really too hard to 
crack by butting. The squadron was now in advance of the 
whole whaling fleet. 

The next two days were red-letter days in the three tedious 
weeks passed in Melville Bay. It was snowing on the morning 
of Saturday, the 14th, and there were no signs of any immediate 
change in the situation. The Thetis and Bear, now two 
miles ahead of the Arctic and Wolf, were drifting slowly 
northward with the pack. Early in the morning the Thetis 



188 TJte Bescue of Greely. 

attacked the bar in front, but an hour's ramming only gaiued 
her a ship's length in advance. During the forenoon, how- 
ever, both ships got under way, and by hard work increased 
their lead by two miles more. £so sooner had they accom- 
plished this, than a wide lane of water opened out to the 
northward, extending apparently several miles to the north- 
west. It was perhaps two or three miles away, and between 
it and the ships lay a stretch of the same tough ice that they 
had just passed through with such difficulty. This was now 
attacked, but it took more than two hours to smash through 
it. As luck would have it, the entrance to the lead extended 
down to the eastward of the advance position occupied by 
the relief ships, and in the movements of the ice, the pack to 
the southward had slackened sufficiently to give the Arctic 
and Wolf an easy passage in. Seeing their advantage, the 
two whalers immediately cast off, and putting on all steam, 
by heading first to the southeast and then to the north, suc- 
ceeded in getting well into the lead before the Thetis and 
Bear had worked through the barrier in front. It was 
rather annoying to the relief ships to find that all their strug- 
gles of the past two days, and their advance of four miles, had 
only resulted, through a piece of sheer bad luck, in placing 
them in a worse position than that which they had left, and 
that the two whalers, which had not come up with them during 
this time, were now steaming by at full speed directly ahead of 
them, and rapidly disappearing to the northwest, with an un- 
limited prospect of clear water before them. However, by 
half-past four the barrier had been passed, the lead entered, 
the ships had been headed to the northwest, and were doiug 
their best in the clear lane before them. Once fairly in the 
open water, they did not stop until they had made good thir- 



Melville Bay. 189 

ty-five miles. To those on board, -who up to this point had 
not made more than fifty miles in an incessant struggle of 
sixteen days, the change was like magic, and eight knots an 
hour seemed like the speed of a lightning express train. 

It was soon after entering this lead that the last glimpse 
was caught of the whalers inshore. They were beset near 
the land, and the Comwallis had the appearance of being 
nipped. They had made a fatal mistake in going back, and 
they were now thrown completely out of the race. 

Occasional obstructions were met in passing through the 
lead from loose streams of ice, but the ships kept steadily on, 
until two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, June 15th, when 
they came to a tight string of ice that barred further passage. 
The Wolf and Arctic were here at anchor, so that the latter 
had after all gained no permanent advantage by the start 
they had got the day before. A few hours later, to every- 
body's surprise, the Aurora came steaming along, and joined 
the others. Captain Fairweather, with his usual good sense, 
had not gone so far inshore as the five other whalers, and he 
was thus able to take advantage of the lead and catch up. 
He had left his companions fast in the ice, to the east of the 
Duck Islands. 

At the point where the five ships were now lying, not far 
from the northerly Browne Islands, there was a pool of water 
around them two or three miles wide. To the north there 
was a clear view of the great glaciers and ice-covered moun- 
tains of the Greenland shore bounding Melville Bay. In- 
closing the pool was the broad expanse of the pack, apparently 
solid, with hundreds of icebergs imbedded in it on all sides. 
There was not a sound to break the stillness. 

At seven o'clock in the morning, soon after the Aurora 



190 The Rescue of Greely. 

had tied up to the edge of the barrier, water-pools and strong 
black lines could be observed in the northwest ; the ice began 
to slacken, and all the ships got under way. It was not long 
before they were stopped again. The ice was eight feet 
thick, and pressed up in many places to sixteen or twenty 
feet. It was of no use to butt into it, and the torpedoes 
produced only a local effect. So the ships once more came 
to anchor. 

The first piece of good luck now came to the Wolf. As 
the ships were lying moored to the bar in front, side by side, 
but somewhat spread out, a crack suddenly opened close to 
the Wolf's moorings. Casting off hastily, she had no sooner 
entered it than it closed behind her, barring the way to the 
other ships. The Wolf steamed ahead, and by this little acci- 
dent obtained a start of six miles. In an hour or two, however, 
the wind had gone down, and the pack loosened, and after 
following winding leads for a little while, all the ships found 
themselves in a wide clear lane along the land ice, and shot 
ahead at full speed. The lane was struck at live in the 
afternoon. At seven, the Thetis, finding that her slowness 
was keeping back the Bear, decided to let the latter make a 
trial of speed, and signalled to her to "go on ahead." The 
Bear then passed her, and gradually closed with the whalers, 
until at 3 a.m. of the 16th all the ships were stopped by the 
pack, after a splendid run of sixty miles. 

The gains of the last two days had carried the relief ex- 
pedition over the best part of Melville Bay. The point it 
had now reached was fifty-eight miles from Cape York. The 
ships had done their best, and it was clear that no efforts at 
any time would have availed to put them a mile further on 
their course. Beyond them still lay the pack, extending ap- 



Melville Bay. 191 

parently for sixty miles off shore. Small streaks could be 
seen to the south and west, but not a sign of water to the 
north. The five ships were lying in a pool, a mile or a mile 
and a half across, which was constantly changing its form 
and size. Across this the wind and tide were driving the 
ice in large floes, which were rapidly nipping and opening. 
The Thetis was unable to ram a dock, and made an attempt 
to cut one in the ice, but nothing could be done with the 
saws in ice of such thickness. The wind was blowing fresh 
from the southeast, making the position of the ships rather 
disagreeable, as it was necessary to keep them under way all 
night, dodging hither and thither, to avoid the running floes 
and bergs. 

Several times during the afternoon of the lGth tempting 
leads would open for a short time to the southwest, but it 
would have been bad judgment, under the circumstances, to 
have left the neighborhood of the land ice to attempt haz- 
ardous openings away from it. The Thetis and Bear con- 
tinued to keep the land ice close aboard, with confidence that 
the surest and safest opening would occur along its edge. 
This eventually happened. 

The Arctic, however, whose captain, Guy, had before this 
made no mistake, attempted one of these enticing leads, at 
about seven o'clock on the evening of the 16th, but was 
caught soon after, two miles away, and could not extricate 
herself. Her stern was thrown up several feet, and she was 
badly squeezed. After this she did not join again during 
the cruise. The Aurora and Wolf barely escaped the same 
nip, the ice closing before they could get into the lead which 
they had started to enter. 

On the morning of the 17th the wind moderated, and in 



192 TJi e Rescue of Greely. 

the afternoon it fell light. The day was clear, and the land 
could again be seen to the northward. During the day the 
ice remained obstinately firm, and there was no sign of en- 
couragement inshore. By nine o'clock, however, the pack 
loosened, and the four ships got under way and entered it. 
Guy was now out of the race, still beset in the pack, which 
he had made the mistake of entering the day before. 

From nine till eleven the four ships were working 
through narrow cracks, charging the ice from time to time. 
The Wolf and Aurora were ahead, followed closely by the 
Thetis and the Bear. Unfortunately, when about half-way 
through the stretch of pack, the Thetis, in backing to clear a 
false lead, fouled the pack and damaged her rudder. This 
occasioned a slight delay, and as the Bear was astern of the 
Thetis, and there was no room to pass, the whalers got a 
good start. In the pack, the effect of any stoppage is apt to 
be increased by changes in the ice, and, on this occasion, dur- 
ing the delay caused by the accident, the lead which the 
whalers had taken closed up, and the Thetis could only get 
through by breaking the ice over again. The Bear had just 
time to follow when the ice closed a second time. 

At eleven o'clock the relief ships worked into a fairly 
clear lead, into which the two whalers had already made their 
way. Here they put on full steam. They were approach- 
ing Cape York, and there was a water-blink to the northward 
which might mean clear water, and consequently a straight- 
away course and a trial of speed. Every one felt that it 
would never do to let the whalers come in first at Cape York. 
The Cape was now so near that the race was becoming excit- 
ing, and as the ships pressed on, one after the other, through 
the long lane of water, each was doing her best. The efforts 



Melville Bay. 193 

did not count for much, however, as far as the advance ships 
were concerned, as the Bear came up with them at one 
o'clock on the morning of the 18th, and progress was stopped 
by a heavy bar. No sooner had the Bear arrived than all 
the ships attacked the bar, ramming their way in vigorously, 
wherever each one saw her best chance. After cracking and 
pounding for an hour and a half, pushing aside the loose 
floes, or crashing into them with the whole power of the en- 
gines, the four vessels, at half-past two in the morning, had 
passed the last obstruction, and slid out into a great space of 
open water. As they cleared the pack and steamed off one 
after the other, the crew of each ship gave three rousing 
cheers. No ice could be seen from the crow's-nest, and 
everybody thought that the North "Water was reached at last. 

"Whether it was really the North "Water is a question. So 
much ice was seen during the rest of the voyage that the 
water-space about Cape York was afterwards regarded as 
nothing more than a break in the pack. However that may 
be, it was a break, and it was determined to use it for all it 
was worth. As the Thetis was hardly up to the mark for 
racing purposes, orders were given to the Bear to go ahead, 
and ahead she went with a will. The whole engineer force 
was stationed in the fire-room, and the engines were worked 
to their full capacity. The Thetis and Wolf, which were 
abreast, were soon left behind, and after a hard tug with the 
Aurora, the leading ship, she also fell astern ; and at half- 
past three on the morning of June 18th, the Bear touched 
the ice four miles off Cape York, the Aurora being a mile to 
the rear, and the others following in her wake. 

From the crow's-nest it was discovered that the delusive 
sheet of water through which the ships had passed, did not 
13 



194 The Rescue of Greely. 

extend around the Cape, but that the pack stretched away 
for miles to the north and west. The three ships in the 
rear brought up against its edge, while the Bear worked in 
some distance further through the cracks. 

As Cape York was now within striking distance, the first 
thing to be done was to send some one over the ice to com- 
municate with the Eskimo, and find out if they knew anything 
of the missing explorers. The Bear therefore pushed on 
to the edge of the land ice and landed the party, which had 
beeu already told off for the work. 

The landing party was composed of Lieut. Colwell, of the 
Bear, and three men, one of whom was Nicolai, the Eskimo 
interpreter. Colwell was naturally selected for the duty, 
from his knowledge of the locality and his experience in boat 
and ice journeys of the year before. Everything had been 
got ready in advance for the landing, and at 4 a.m. on the 
18th, Colwell and his men were dropped on the ice with a 
dog-sled and a small dory, and ten days' supplies. The ad- 
vantage of this combination is that when you are on the ice 
you put the dory on the sled, and Avhen you come to water 
you put the sled in the dory. The party went over the ice 
a couple of miles, and then launched their boat. On the 
edge of the land ice, immediately below Cape York, they 
came across sled-tracks, and presently they fell in with a na- 
tive who was seal-fishing, but nothing could be learned about 
Greely or his companions. The man was able to make it 
clear that the natives about Cape York had not heard any- 
thing of the white men in the north country. It was use- 
less to go further, and Colwell retraced his steps towards the 
ship. 

The Aurora and Wolf, the only whalers that were still in 



Melville Bay. 195 

the race, apparently now came to the conclusion that it would 
be as well to desist from the effort to get ahead of the relief 
ships. In fact, it was always a question whether the Wolf 
had ever intended going north or trying for the reward at 
all, her captain having too much at stake in the summer's 
catch of fish. 

The Aurora had made no secret of her intentions, but 
Fairweather, her captain, now announced his purpose of 
making for the fishing ground in Lancaster Sound, having, 
as he thought, reached the North Water. Accordingly, he 
started off to the southward and westward, followed by the 
Wolf, both taking the open water along the edge of the pack. 
Before they got out of sight the Arctic was seen coming up, 
and she joined the.others as they were making off to the 
southwest. 

As there might be a chance of getting through that way, 
the Bear was ordered to steam off in the same direction, and 
if she found open water, to work north to Conical Rock, 
Saunders Island, Wolstenhohne Island, and Cape Parry, and 
thence to Littleton Island, stopping at Cary Islands on the 
way. The Thetis was to remain to pick up Colwell, whose 
search might last some time, and to take her chances at Cape 
York, although the outlook for the moment was most un- 
promising. 

Just before the whalers left the Cape, Captain Fairweather 
came on board the Thetis to say good-bye, and to wish her 
godspeed before he started for Lancaster Sound. His warm 
shake of the hand as he said farewell, in his rich Scotch ac- 
cent, will never be forgotten. " Gude bye, Captain," he said, 
" we may live without fesh, but those poor fellows up there 
must have breed. God bless you ! It's na use for us to go 
further." 



CHAPTER XL 

CAPE YOKK TO LITTLETON ISLAND. 

Quite in accordance with the general law of ice movements 
that the unexpected will always happen : before the Bear had 
been gone an hour, the pack moved bodily off from Cape 
York, leaving a lane of open water about fifty yards wide. 
The Thetis lost no time in pushing into it. It brought her 
along the edge of the land ice, so that Colwell, seeing her 
approach, after he had made perhaps a mile on his way back, 
waited with his men for her to come up. Hardly stopping, 
she picked up the party, which had only been absent three 
or four hours. They had seen only one man ; but his state- 
ments were conclusive, and the attempt to land and find 
other natives on shore would have involved a long delay, 
perhaps for the rest of the day ; and as the ice had so unex- 
pectedly moved off, leaving suddenly the opening which 
every one had been hoping and longing for, it would have 
been folly to stop longer. The Thetis therefore continued 
her way alone, and reached Conical Rock with only occasional 
difficulty at a little before four in the afternoon. 

Conical Rock is a barren island half a mile long, with a 
sugar-loaf peak, which marks out clearly the turning-point 
from Melville Bay into the triangular expanse of water, 
which for want of a better name, we have called lower 
Smith Sound. The Thetis was anchored to the ice on the 
northern side, about 200 yards from the island. Soon after 
(196) 



Cape York to Littleton Island. 197 

anchoring Sebree took a boat and landed with a party on the 
western side of the island. Here he built the first cairn of 
the expedition. It was placed on a level rock, 300 feet up 
from the water. The records for Coffin and Emory were 
placed in a bottle, which was sealed, and set up on the rock. 
Loose stones were placed around it until a pile was made 
about five feet high, and a flag-pole with a piece of black 
muslin was set up on top. 

While Sebree was away making his cairn, the officers who 
were disengaged went out with the boats after birds, and 
shot three or four dozen auks and dovekies. By the time 
that the party had returned from the island, the outlook 
ahead had become unfavorable. The pack to the northward, 
which the Thetis had now come up with, was formidable, 
and the strong tides made its movements uncertain. For 
twenty-three hours the Thetis was compelled to wait, 
anchored to an iceberg or to the floe under the lee of Coni- 
cal Rock. Once, soon after midnight, she ran up a mile or 
so, but the ice was too thick and heavy for passage. 

At two p.m. on the 19th, the southerly wind ceased, while 
the floes were partially loosened by the tide, and the Thetis 
got under way for Wolstenholme Sound. Cape Dudley 
Digges was passed by ramming through the pack. Off 
Cape Athol, only five hundred yards of ice intervened be- 
tween the ship and the open water of Wolstenholme Sound, 
but it took some time and hard work to cross the barrier. 
At this time torpedoes were found of real and unmistakable 
service — at one point especially where the Thetis, ramming 
her way violently into a narrowing crack, about two ships' 
lengths, found herself stuck fast like a wedge. Here she 
was perfectly helpless. There was no pressure from the ice, 



198 The Rescue of Greely. 

but it was firm and unyielding, and the ship could not he 
moved. Backing was tried, but it Mas of no avail. At 
such a time all hands were at work, on the ice or the ship, 
wherever they could he of any use, — with a boat-hook, if 
nothing else. Some of the men were kept at work pushing 
the pieces of ice that had become loose away from the screw. 
But the really effective work was done by the torpedoes. 
These were planted, both of gun-cotton and of gunpowder, 
ahead of the ship, and on each side abreast of the foremast, 
a little abaft the bluff of the how, where the ship was tight- 
est ; and, as usual, ten or twelve yards away from her side. 
The fractures caused by the explosion eased the ship from 
her jam, and she was ahle to push ahead once more through 
the pack. 

Passing ou through narrow leads and between heavy floes, 
the Thetis arrived at Wolstenholme Island a little after mid- 
night. Here Colwell went ashore, and left a record in a 
small cairn, which he built on a slight bluff, just above a 
shallow cove, about midway on the western side of the 
island. The cairn was marked by a pole with a white flag. 
As soon as the party returned on board, the Thetis started 
for Saunders Island, where she arrived at 2.25 a.m. on 
Friday, June 2.0th, after a passage of an hour or two through 
rotten ice. She anchored to the ice, about two miles from 
the point where the relief expedition of the year before had 
landed on the night of August 2d, while on their retreat 
from the wreck of the Proteus, at the moment when the 
Yantie arrived at Carv Island on her way up. 

At Saunders Island there were perhaps fifty Eskimo, but 
they had no information to give about Greely. The}' came 
ofi*w r ith their sleds to the ship, where they were well re- 



Cape York to Littleton Island. 199 

ceived, and given bread and pork, as well as broken oars 
and pieces of wood to mend their kayaks. They belonged 
to the same group as the Cape York Eskimo, and living as 
the} T do on the eastern shore of lower Smith Sound, their 
friendly offices may be of the greatest service to parties of 
explorers who have lost their ship, or who have been de- 
tached from their base of supplies on the coast of Grinnell 
Land or North Greenland. 

As the Thetis could not approach nearer than a mile and 
a half to the land, Colwell was again sent in. This time 
David went with him. There was much snow on the island, 
and above it patches of flowering moss could be seen in 
bloom. Colwell found the settlement, consisting of ten tents 
and a hut. The natives were fat and dirty, as usual, and 
they had plenty of dogs and provisions, the latter chiefly 
seal-meat and birds. Colwell recognized among the natives 
two men whom he had seen at Cape York the year before. 
He also found here the dingy which he had left at the Cape, 
and which the Cape York men had brought around a month 
or two earlier. The cairn made by Garlington had been 
destroyed, and it was learned that at the time that the latter 
landed, there were three people on the island, one man and 
two women, who had stolen away and hidden themselves 
among the rocks. Garlington had seen no Eskimo on the 
island, but had found, as he mentions in his report, " an 
Eskimo dog, with one foot tied up to his neck." When 
Colwell pointed out the spot to David, to see if he could re- 
call the visit of the year before, the Eskimo nodded his head 
and said. " Me savy," at the same time holding up his bent 
arm to his neck. The dog at Saunders Island was the only 
thing about the journey which he gave any sign of having 
remembered. 



200 The Rescue of Greely. 

Information obtained here from the natives who visited 
the ship confirmed the belief that Greely could not have 
worked south over such ice as had been met so early in the 
season. In fact there had been no sledging up to Etah, the 
settlement in Foulke Fiord. An old man with a wooden 
leg, who appeared to be the chief of the party, said that 
earlier in the season, before the ice had broken, a hunting 
party had gone over the ice, well on towards the Cary 
Islands, but that no signs of white men had been seen. This 
made it clear that the ship must push on at once to the 
northward. 

These Eskimo pass the winter at North Star Bay, where 
they live in their huts built of stone and turf; during the 
spring and summer they shift over to Saunders Island, where 
they live in skin tents, and occupy themselves in hunting 
and fishing for their winter supply. The island is a favorite 
haunt of walrus, seal, and duck. It was here that the first 
large walrus were seen by the expedition. During favor- 
able seasons the natives work as far north as Lifeboat Cove, 
and south as far as Cape York. The usual mode of travel 
is by dog sleds along the ice-foot which everywhere skirts 
the land. Wherever a landing was made on the west coast 
of Greenland, beyond Cape York, tracks of sleds and human 
footprints were seen on the snow. North of Saunders Isl- 
and there are two Eskimo settlements, one on North umber- 
land Island, and the other in Foulke Fiord, at the village of 
Etah. The number of the inhabitants has been growing 
steadily smaller year by year, and they are now a mere 
handful of people. The Saunders Island natives said that 
there were only four families at Etah. The two northern 
settlements seem to be closely connected with each other, 



Cape York to Littleton Island. 201 

and interchange visits in much the same way as those at 
North Star Bay and Cape York. None of the people in the 
four settlements ever go south of the latter point, between 
which and Tassuisak the coast is one vast impassable glacier. 
There was a marked difference in appearance between the 
natives in the two regions ; those to the north were tine 
physical specimens, and in their bear-skin suits appeared 
hardy and robust. Their good nature and laughing faces 
contrasted strongly with the surly expression and manner of 
those about the Danish settlements. 

Although with an Eskimo food is usually the principal 
subject of concern, the Saunders Island natives seemed quite 
as anxious to procure broken oars, or nails, or pieces of 
metal. Whenever they came on board, however, it was 
noticed that they generally found the galley the most attract- 
ive part of the ship, and they were constantly hanging about 
it. Nothing in the shape of food seemed to go amiss with 
them ; and it made little difference whether grease, or bone, 
or bird-skins, or vegetable parings were handed out, — they 
were always ready to eat anything, dirty or clean, hot or 
cold, cooked or uncooked. 

As soon as Colwell returned, the Thetis, at 4.40 a.m., 
left Saunders Island for Cape Parry. The ice presented 
some difficulty, although after a great deal of winding about, 
the ship succeeded in making oue or two good runs. The 
floes were loose, but the ice was piled up in large masses, 
and there were places where the heavier hammocks would 
only just clear the boats hanging at the davits, and occasion- 
ally the propeller striking a heavy lump would get a severe 
shock. The bumping never injured the screw, though it 
brought the ship up once or twice. On one occasion it car- 



202 The Rescue of Greely. 

ried away the block holding up the reversing-gear of the 
engine, but as usual, Melville's resource prevented any de- 
tention, and the block was held firmly in place by means of 
a hydraulic pump, until secure straps could be made. 

During this day's passage, large numbers of walrus were 
seen basking on the larger floe-pieces, and dropping lazily 
off into the water before the ship got within easy gunshot. 
Thousands of screaming little auks were found in the wide 
spaces of open water between the floes, but they were so 
small as hardly to make it worth while to waste ammuni- 
tion on any but the larger flocks, and the sportsmen did not 
feel repaid unless each shot brought down two or three 
score of them. The beautiful ivory gulls too were seen, 
though they were not easily distinguished from the white 
snow lying over the ice. As they were useless for food, and 
were only prized as curiosities, none of them were killed. 

Approaching Cape Parry in the forenoon the ice was 
found packed a long distance from the shore, and there was 
some doubt whether the Thetis could without a great deal 
of trouble work in near enough to send a party ashore 
with the record referred to in the instructions given to Cof- 
fin and Emory. It would have been easier to pass on to 
Northumberland and Hakluyt Islands, and leave a record 
there. The whole history of expeditions in this region, how- 
ever, shows that it is a cardinal principle of Arctic exploration 
that when two parties are working in concert, and commu- 
nicating by records left at pre-arranged points, they should 
carry out to the letter the terms of their agreement, and 
nothing short of an insurmountable obstacle should ever 
stand in the way of making the records at the designated 
points. Failure to do this is certain to throw the other 
party into confusion. 



Cape York to Littleton Island. 203 

As Cape Parry was one of the pre-arranged points at 
which a record was to be left, and as notices left at Conical 
Rock and at Wolstenholtne Island had reiterated it as one 
of the points en route, it was out of the question to pass on 
without effecting a landing, even though delay might there- 
by be occasioned. A lead was therefore followed to the 
open water to the westward, from which place an hour or 
two later it opened up to Cape Parry. 

The Thetis arrived at Cape Parry at 1.30 p.m., and anch- 
ored within 200 yards of the land. The Eskimo sled tracks 
were again visible on the ice-foot. Lieutenant Lemly land- 
ed at the Cape, built a cairn, and left a record for the other 
vessels. The cairn was placed on a knoll, on the western 
point of the Cape, and marked by a white flag. The Thetis 
was under way again at 2.25 p.m. Soon after leaving the 
Cape she struck a sunken rock, not marked on the chart, 
but as she was going at a speed of only two knots at the 
time, she sustained no injury. Standing across Whale 
Sound, through loose broken floe ice, the Thetis passed 
around and between Northumberland and Hakluyt Islands, 
running closely in and examining them carefully, and con- 
tinued on her way north, at 9 p.m. From Northumberland 
Island to Cape Alexander, tlie way lay through twenty-four 
miles of enormous bergs, thickly studded together, often so 
close to each other that an opening could hardly be discov- 
ered until the ship was right upon them. During the night 
the wind came up fresh from the southward with flurries of 
snow. Later it increased to a gale, which continued with 
slight intervals during the next two days, the wind at times 
blowing with great fury. The direction of the wind was 
favorable, however, and good progress was made. About 



204: The Rescue of Grady. 

twenty miles north of Northumberland Island, the ship suc- 
ceeded in getting into the long sought-1'or North Water. 
This time there was no mistake about it. From this point 
there was but little ice ; in tact, there was, to all intents, opes 
sea as far as Littleton Island, and for the iirst time since en- 
tering the ice, seven hundred miles to the southward, the 
ship rose slightly to the motion of the swell. 

Cape Robertson was swept with the telescope during the 
clear intervals in passing, but there were no signs of life to 
he observed there, nor on any of the land intervening be- 
tween it and Littleton Island. Passing the points and in- 
lets with their well-known names, Cape Saumarez, Cape Al- 
exander, Hartstene Bay, Pandora Harbor, and Port Foulke, 
the Thetis at 2.80 a.m. of June 21st was abreast of Little- 
ton Island. All hands were watching eagerly for signs of 
the missing explorers; but there was no trace of human life 
about the island, and the coal-pile was apparently undis- 
turbed. As the Thetis passed up the west side, McGary 
Island gradually opened out, a rocky islet half a mile long 
lying off the northern side of Littleton Island, and sepa- 
rated from it by a passage one hundred yards wide. Nor- 
man, the ice-pilot, said that he had been through this pas- 
sage, and the Thetis accordingly attempted it. Starting at 
low speed, she had not gone far before she struck a ledge, 
on which she hung for fifteen anxious minutes. After a lit- 
tle thumping, she was worked off with the help of the engine 
and head-sail, aided somewhat by the ebb tide. Fortunately 
she was not injured, and she steamed around, this time out- 
side of McGary Island, to the north side of Littleton Island, 
whore she was protected from the southwesterly gale. Here 
she made fast to a small grounded berg off the shore. 



Cape York to Littleton Ida/nd. 205 

Parties were immediately landed, the Captain, Col well, 
Melville, Norman, and others going ashore. Every part of 
the island where it was thought a cairn or a record could 
possibly be, was examined. Beebe's cache made in 1882 
cuuld not be found at first, even with the help of Norman, 
who had been with Beebe, as mate of the Neptune, when 
the cache was made. A stray sock was discovered on the 
northwestern end of the island, and a bundle of newspapers. 
More men came over and the search continued actively. 
Finally, one of the men, prodding the snow in a gully with 
a boat-hook, struck a barrel. Removing the snow, which 
was three feet deep, the cache was found intact, and the 
cans showed no signs of spoiling. The business-like address 
on the boxes, " Lieutenant A. W. Greely, Fort Conger, 
Grinnell Land, via St. John's and Greenland," had about it 
an air of grotesqueness that seemed almost like a mockery. 

The cairns were found without difficulty. That of Nares 
was on the southwestern summit. Commander Wildes' 
cairn of the year before was found on the southwest point 
near ihe coal-pile, with the broken oar planted in it, and a 
letter from Commander Wildes to Garlington in a bottle, 
all just as it had been left. It was evident that Greely had 
not reached the island. 

The greater part of the day was v consumed in making the 
search of the island. During the morning the gale increased 
so much that landing on or leaving the hio-h ice-foot of the 
island was dangerous and difficult. The wind brought with 
it a blinding snow-storm. It was late in the evening before all 
hands were brought safely on board, worn out with the work of 
the day. No landing had been made at Lifeboat Cove as 
yet, but if the explorers had been there, a record would cer- 



200 Ths Ikmu of Qndy, 

tainly have boon placed on Littleton Island, which was only 
half a mile from the Greenland shore. Moreover, in the 
intervals of the storm the beach had been swept with 
glasses, and no signals or signs of human beings were to be 
soon. 

During the night the wind increased to a violent gale, and 
it was impossible to see halt' the ship's length away. Orders 
wore given to Sebree to take a depot of provisions, amount- 
ing to 700 rations, which had been placed on deck, and land 
thorn as soon as a lull in the storm would permit. This was 
done about eight o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 22(L 
The Beebe cache had been selected as the place for the 
depot. To reach it Sebree palled a mile through the strait 
between McGary and Littleton Islands, because, if he had 
landed on the icefoot, opposite the ship, he would have been 
obliged to sledge the provisions to the northwestern point. 
It was still blowing hard through the strait when Sebree 
landed from the boat and hauled his provisions up to a gully 
in the rocks, where the snow would cover them. After 
making his cache, he crossed over to the coal-pile and the 
Nares cairn, and left a record for Emory and Coffin. 

There were now two sources of anxiety on board the 
Th,:tis. It was clear that Greely had not reached Littleton 
Island. It was just possible, though hardly to be hoped 
in view of the course of action agreed upon in 1881, that 
ho should have remained at Lady Franklin Bay. The prob- 
ability, however, was that he had moved southwards, but 
that failing strength, or loss of boats, or some other mis- 
adventure had prevented his reaching Smith Sound. 
Across the Sound, shut out from view for the moment by 
the blackness of the Arctic storm, lay Cape Sabine. It 



Cajje York to Littleton Inland. 207 

could not be supposed thai he had reached this point, for the 
provisions left there were not enough to sustain life during 
the winter, and the whale-boat on the Cape would surely 
have been sent over to the Island for the stores landed by 
the Neptune. Intense as was the desire to push on and 
solve the mystery, some apprehensions were felt for the 
Bear, which had parted company at Cape York, and which, 
besides having, as it had seemed, several hours the start, 
was the faster vessel. Before attempting the ice of Kane 
Sea, which had proved fatal to the Proteus, it was well for 
the Thetis to know something of the fate of her consort. 
Nevertheless, it was determined to go over to Cape Sabine 
and await Emory at that point. The record left for him at 
Littleton Island was to inform him cf this intention. At 
noon two men were sent out to cast off the lines of the 
Thetis from the iceberg. In a few moments they came 
back, and to the great relief of everybody, reported that 
they had sighted a steamer between McGary and Littleton 
Islands. A few minutes Liter the steamer was seen- from 
the Thetis and at once recognized to be the Bear. At one 
o'clock she had made fast on the port quarter of the flag-ship. 

Since parting from her consort off Cape York, the Bear 
had bad a very uncomfortable time of it. On the morning 
of June 18th she first steamed to the westward with the 
whalers, following the edge of the pack, and on the lookout 
for a lead to the northward. Running about twenty miles 
in this direction without finding an opening, but on the con- 
trary, meeting all the time with heavier and more danger- 
ous ice, Emory wisely concluded to return towards the land. 
By noon he had reached a point within eight miles of 



208 Tlus Rescue of Greely. 

Cape York, but the Thetis had now disappeared, and the 
lead which had so happily opened for her, as well as the 
clear sheet of water where the ships had been lying, had 
disappeared also. 

The position of the Bear off Cape York, where she was 
compelled to remain for nearly two days, was in many 
respects the most disagreeable she had yet found, and cer- 
tainly she had at no time been in greater danger. During 
the afternoon of the 18th she was in a heavy fog which shut 
out everything from view, even the ice in her neighborhood. 
At three o'clock a fortunate lighting up of the fog showed 
that the crack in which she was lying was about to close. 
She got out just in time, for no sooner had she moored to the 
floe 200 yards away, than the edges of the ice where she had 
been anchored came together. 

During all the afternoon and night, and well on into the 
next day. the Bear was obliged to keep a sharp lookout for 
the masses of ice which the winds and currents kept in con- 
stant motion about the Cape, grinding and crushing to- 
gether on all sides. There was no possibility of telling, 
during most of the time, where or when the nip was coming, 
and the Bear several times shifted her berth to escape a 
possible squeeze. On the morning of the 19th two floes 
between which she was lying came together, rafting the 
crushed- up ice heavily just astern of her. She was just 
clear of the point of pressure. Had she been a few yards 
astern, she might have met the fate of the Proteus. 

The whalers whom Emory had accompanied were not 
so fortunate. They also had turned back, and early on the 
morning of the 19th, the fog lifting, they were seen four or 
five miles to the southward beset in the pack. The Aurora 



Cape York to Littleton Island. 209 

had evidently been badly nipped. She had lowered all her 
boats on the ice, and the crew appeared to be making prep- 
arations to abandon the ship. The Arctic and the Wolf 
were doing their best to get out of the pack, but they were 
unsuccessful during all that day and the following night. 

On the morning of the 20th, the fog settled down more 
heavily than ever, but the ice appeared to be slacking. At 
half-past five, steam whistles were heard not far off to the 
southeast, and at six the Aurora and Wolf asuoao up, hav- 
ing extricated themselves from the pack. The Arctic was 
also near by, but was invisible in the fog. The Bear got 
under way soon after the others had come up, and started 
through the loosened pack. It was slow work during most 
of the time, although towards noon the ship had a fairly 
good three hours' run. The fog continued all day, and it 
was only at intervals that the land could be seen. JFrom 
time to time one or another of the whalers could be descried 
through a break in the mist, struggling along through the 
winding cracks in the pack. In the afternoon very little 
progress was made, and midnight found the relief ship not 
far from Wolstenholme Island, having made in all about 
fifty miles. 

The next day, Saturday, the 21st, was still less satisfactory. 
The fog continued heavy, and the ice was worse than the 
day before, compelling a tortuous course which brought the 
vessel no nearer to her destination at the North. In fact the 
whole day was passed in running out to the Cary Islands, 
where the ship arrived in the evening. The islands could 
only be seen at occasional moments, and the Bear found it 
necessary to run much of the time by guesswork. After 
she had been pushing about blindly for a long time, the 
U 



210 The Rescue of Gresly. 

fog suddenly lifted, and Southeast Cary Island was seen two 
miles away. 

Arriving at 8 p.m., Emory landed and examined the 
Nares cache. It was undisturbed, and the condition of the 
provisions seemed to be as good as at Garlington's visit of 
the year before. Greely had certainly not been here, and 
the Bear, at a little before midnight, got under way for 
Littleton Island. Three hours after leaving Cary Island she 
found herself in open water. At this poiDt she saw the last 
of the whalers. They were far away to the south, and 
steaming to the westward, evidently making for Lancaster 
Sound. With the help of the southerly gale, the Bear made 
such short work of the rest of her passage, that in ten 
hours more she had covered the seventy miles that were left 
of her journey, and at one o'clock on the afternoon of Sun- 
day, the 22d, as already related, she joined her consort at 
Littleton Island. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

THE RESCUE. 

As it was evident that Greely bad not been at Littleton 
Island, it was decided to run over to Cape Sabine, take a 
look at the cairns and caches there, make a new depot of 
four thousand rations, as a supply on which to fall back in 
case of disaster, and push north at once. Leaving a final 
record for Coffin on McGrary Island, the Thetis and Bear 
sailed from Littleton Island, at 3 p.m., on Sunday, June 22d, 
with a strong breeze, increasing at intervals to a heavy gale. 
Fortunately the strait, at this point about twenty-three miles 
wide, was comparatively clear of ice, so that no obstruction 
was met until the relief ships had arrived within a mile or 
two of their ice anchorage in Payer Harbor, an indentation 
of the coast on the west side of the Sound, partly enclosed 
by Brevoort, Stalknecht, and Payer Islands. The water in 
the bay is deep, but the anchorage is unsafe, being exposed 
to the heavy ice which drifts through the strait with the 
strong tides after the break-up of early summer has taken 
place. 

Brevoort Island is the largest and most prominent of the 
islands, and for this reason doubtless was selected by Nares 
as the site of his cairn. It lies two miles south of Cape 
Sabine, around which, three miles to the westward, was the 
cache made by Beebe in 1882, and a mile further on along 
the same coast, the wreck-cache where Lieut. Colwell had 

(211) 



212 The Rescue of Greely. 

landed the stores saved from the wreck of the Proteus the 
year before. Stalknecht Island, a long, low strip of land 
connected at low tide with the mainland, lying W.S.W. 
from Brevoort Island, was the site upon which the English 
expedition had established their cache of provisions. 

The harbor was frozen over, and the ships were made fast 
to the northern edge of the ice, just off Brevoort Island. In 
order that no time should be lost, parties were detailed to 
examine simultaneously all the depots in the neighborhood. 
Lieutenant Taunt, with Seamen Yewell, Brock, and Mitre, 
were sent to Brevoort Island, and Ensign Harlow, with Sea- 
men Coffin and McLeod, to the English cache on Stalknecht 
Island. A third party, composed of Chief-Engineer Mel- 
ville, Dr. Ames, and Seaman Lindquist, w r ent to the bottom 
of Payer Harbor to examine the coast line as far as it was 
accessible. A fourth party, in the Bear's steam cutter, af- 
terwards known as the " Cub," was made up of Lieutenant 
Colwell, Chief-Engineer Lowe of the Bear, the two ice- 
masters, Norman and Ash, a coxswain and two men. They 
set out to go around Cape Sabine and look at Beebe's cache, 
and at Colwell's wreck-cache. 

It was intended that, as soon as a satisfactory examination 
had been made and a depot landed, the ships should advance 
without delay into Kane Sea. There was no expectation of 
finding that any one had been at the Cape, or that the 
cairns or caches had been disturbed, as it was clear that if 
Greely had arrived he would have been short of provisions, 
and would therefore have sought to obtain those at Littleton 
Island ; and nobody could have imagined for a moment that, 
with prospective starvation on one side of the strait, and a 
provision depot (although a small one) twenty-three miles 



The Rescue. 213 

off on the other, a party supplied with a boat and oars would 
have preferred the former alternative. In fact, at the time 
the cutter started, the crew of the Bear were getting pro- 
visions on deck to be in readiness for the sledge-journey that 
was to be made northwards, after the ships were stopped by 
the fast ice. As the cutter left the ship, Colwell picked up 
a can of hard-tack and two one-pound cans of pemmican, as 
he thought that his party might be out all night, and a little 
of something to eat would not go amiss. 

Within half an hour after the first parties had left the 
ship, cheers were heard above the roaring of the wind. At 
first it was impossible to tell from what quarter the sound 
proceeded, but soon the cheering was heard a second time 
more distinctly, in the direction of Brevoort Island. Almost 
immediately after, Ensign Harlow was observed signalling 
from Stalk necht Island. His message read : "Have found 
Greety's records ; send five men." 

Before this request could be carried out, Yewell was seen 
running over the ice towards the ships, and a few minutes 
later he came on board almost out of breath with the in- 
formation that Lieutenant Taunt had found a message from 
Greely in the cairn on Brevoort Island. Yewell brought 
the papers with him, and called out, as he gave them to the 
officer of the deck, that Greely's party were at Cape Sabine, 
all well. The excitement of the moment was intense, and 
it spread with the rapidity of lightning through both the 
ships. It was decided instantly to go on to the Gape, and a 
general recall was sounded by three long blasts from the 
steam whistle of the Thetis. 

The first thing to be done before taking; definite action 
was to go carefully over the papers that Taunt had found. 



214 The Rescue of Greely. 

All the officers who had remained behind in the two ships 
gathered around the ward-room table of the Thetis, and the 
records were hurriedly read aloud. As one paper after an- 
other was quickly turned over, until the last was reached, it 
was discovered with horror that the latest date borne by any 
of them was Oct. 21, 1883, and that but forty days' complete 
rations were left to live upon. Eight months had elapsed 
since then, and the belief was almost irresistible that the 
whole party must have perished during this terrible period 
of waiting and watching for relief. This was the brief story 
told by the records : 

The International Polar Expedition was fitted out by the War Depart- 
ment of the United States, under the supervision of General W. B. 
Hazen, Chief Signal Officer. 

Sailing from St. John's, Newfoundland, July 9th, it touched at Disko, 
Rittcnbenk, Upernivik, Cary Islands, Littleton Island, Cape Hawks, 
Carl Ritter Bay, and was stopped by ice for the first time in Lady 
Franklin Bay, near Cape Lieber. It landed in Discovery Harbor, August 
12th. The steamship Proteus sailed August 26th. 

The winter of 1881-82 proved to be of remarkable severity ; the cor- 
rected mean for February of a thermometer on the floe was — 48° 03'. 
Musk-ox meat was procured in large quantities and other game to less 
extent. Lieutenant Lockwood, during the autumn, explored the " Bel- 
lows " and the valley of St. Patrick's Bay, and attempted in November, 
twenty-one days after the sun left us, to cross Robeson Channel, but was 
obliged by open water and heavy ice, to turn back several miles from 
Cape Beochy. 

Starting eleven clays before the sun returned, he examined Robeson 
Channel off Cape Bccchy, and leaving March 1st, visiting Thank God 
Harbor via Capes Bccchy and Lupton, returned via Newman Bay and 
Cape Sumner March 11th, having been detained two days by violent 
storm. 

Dr. Pavy visited Lincoln Bay in September, established depots in 
"Wrangell Bay in October, and near Mt. Parry in November, returning 
on the 8th, and between March 5th and 9th, 1882, established a depot 
near Cape Sumner. On October 2d, he started to visit Cape Joseph 
Henry, but was turned back by open water at the Black Cliffs. He 



TJw Rescue. 215 

leaves March 18, 1882, to reach land, if possible, north of Cape Joseph 
Henry. Lieutenant Lockwood leaves April 1st, to explore the land 
north and east of Cape Britannia. The commanding officer proposes 
later an attempt to reach the western shore of Grinnell Land via Black 
Cliffs Valley. 

The health of the command has continued excellent to the present 
time. No signs of scurvy except possibly Eskimo Jens ; all well at 
present date (March 15, 1882). The winter has passed comfortably and 
pleasantly. 

A. W. Greelt, 
\»t Li., 5ih Cav., A. 8. 0. and Ass't, 
Commanding Expedition. 



This record is deposited by Octave Pavy, who leaving Fort Conger, 
October 27, 1882, with party of D. L. Brainard— 

October 31, 1882. 

Taken up August 12, 1883, by Lieutenant Greely and party going 
southward to Littleton Island. 



Fokt Congee, G. L., October 26, 1882. 
During the spring and summer of 1882, the following trips have been 
made : A. A. Surgeon O. Pavy left March 19th to reach land north of 
Cape Joseph Henry, but returned May 4th, having found open water in 
the Polar Ocean, where he was for a time afloat with his party on the 
moving ice-pack. Lieutenant J. B. Lockwood left April 3d, and re- 
turned June 2d, having in the meantime discovered Hazen Coast, which 
extends northeastward from Cape Britannia to 83° 30' N., and about 38° 
W. He reached 83° 24' N., and 40° 46' W. No land directly north or 
northwest, although horizon was searched on clear days from altitude 
of over 2,000 feet. The coast still continued its trend to the N.E. (tr.) 
The commanding officer penetrating the interior of Grinnell Land in 
April, and again in July, discovered a lake about 60 miles by 8, called 
Lake Hazen, and reached Mt. C. A. Arthur 81° 13' N., 74° 10' W., 
whence from an elevation of 4,500 feet a view was had on a very clear 
day. Low land to the W.S.W. and S. as far as eye could reach. In 
W.S.W. in slight depression, from 75 to 100 miles distant a range of 
mountains which iiossibly are on a land separated from Grinnell Land by 
a narrow strait. During August launch Lady Greely ran to head Archer 
Fiord and part way into Howgate Fiord, which latter, inland from Mil- 
ler's Island, receives the water of Lake Hazen via Ruggles River. No 



216 The Rescue of Greely. 

casualties to date ; all well at present. In case of no vessel, the station 
will be abandoned August 11, 1888, the party retreating by boats along 
the west coast of Kennedy Channel and Smith Sound. 

A. W. Gkeelt, 
1st Lt., 5th Cav., A. S. 0. and Ass't, 
Commanding Expedition. 



Record left by Lieutenant Greely, Commanding Polar Expedition en 
route to Littleton Island with ultimate intention of reaching S.E. Cary 
Island : 

I abandoned Fort Conger, G. L., August 9, 1883. at 3 p.m., with a 
party of twenty-five ; all well. Reached Cape Baird August 10th, and 
left same evening near midnight, steam-launch Lady Greely towing boats 
Valorous, Beaumont, and whale-boat. On board 5,500 lbs. coal and over 
forty days' rations. Took up enough at Cape Cracroft to make forty- 
five days' rations. Had foggy weather with snow ; met some ice. 
Reached Carl Ritter Bay about 10 p.m., August 12th, and took up cache, 
leaving at once with about fifty days' complete rations, except sugar. 
Stopped by floe about 80° 43' N., morning August 13th. Took up depot 
of 240 rations at Cape Collinson, August 22d, and at 1 p.m., August 28d, 
were tied up to ice-foot about two miles south of Cape Norton Shaw. 
Stopped by dense nibble-ice, which extended as far south as could be 
seen. All well at that time. Reached Cape Hawks August 26th, took 
up 16S lbs. potatoes, 111 lbs. pickles, 250 lbs. bread, 324 lbs. stearine. 
Left same afternoon, and were beset that night in about 73° W., 79° 25' 
N., in attempting to reach Victoria Head by direct course. All well 
August 27, 1883. jSo signs of a ship or of depots for us have been seen, 
although the shore has been carefully followed and watched. A jS".E. 
gale forced us down to 79° 00' 06" N., 74° 45' W., when temperature fell, 
September 8th, to 0.S% freezing in the party. It is the intention to aban- 
don launch Lady Greely and one boat Monday, September 10th, and to 
reach Cape Sabine with two boats by sledge via Cocked Hat Island. 

Party all well and in good spirits at date. Have about forty days' 
complete rations. It is the intention, as soon as separation shall be safe, 
to send an officer and two men to Brevoort Island to obtain record which 
should be there, of the movements of ship and location of depot this 
year. If boats have been left there, it will greatly facilitate our move- 
ments and increase our chances of safety. Abandoned launch and one 
boat September 10th, and later another boat. Driven into the middle of 
Kane Sea twice by B.W. gales ; once from about three miles off Cocked 
Hat Island, and again from about same distance from Sabine ; yet later, 



The Rescue. 217 

when within two miles of Brevoort Island, driven by a N.W. gale and 
ice-pressure to north side Baird Inlet, between Leffert and Alfred New- 
ton glaciers of Admiralty chart, or just north of Cape Patterson, Nares 
map. Reached land September 29th, with one boat, 12-man sledge, 25 
days' rations. Party of twenty-five all well yet, and hopeful of future. 
Lieutenant Lockwood probably starts for Sabine October 1st, and will 
deposit this record. If no rations except English are found, they will 
be hauled away to this point, and Cape Isabella visited by sledge, in 
hope of finding another there ; as a forlorn hope, when rations are re- 
duced to ten days, an attempt will be made to reach Littleton Island by 
sledge, leaving records and cairn here with boat ; records to be not exceed- 
ing 25 feet from boat. Pendulum and duplicate records will be cached 
at site of English depot by Lieutenant Lockwood. Hope to obtain game 
enough to keep us alive until February, when we will start for Littleton 
Island as soon as sun permits travelling. 

A. W. Greely, 
1st Lt., 5th Cav., A. S. 0. and Ass't, 
September 30, 1883, Commanding Expedition. ■ 

N. side Baird Inlet. 

Visit Brevoort Island for maps and records in English cairn. Our 
party winter under desperate circumstances, in imminent danger of star- 
vation, on N. side Baird Inlet. All well ; twenty-five yet in party. 

A. W. Greely, 
1st Lt., 5t7i Cav., A. S. 0. and Ass't, 
September 30, 1883, Commanding Expedition. 

N. side Baird Inlet. 

Left Lieutenant Greely's party at north side Baird Inlet on October 
1st, accompanied by one Eskimo, and arrived at Payer Harbor yester- 
day, October 5th. Encountered great difficulty in travelling. Rosse 
Bay and all its ramifications entirely open, and a strait found opening 
out to the west of Cocked Hat Island and separating Sabine from main 
land, had to be followed on the inside throughout its entire length. 

Travelled through thick weather yesterday, and did not see cache 
landed from wreck of Proteus, and mentioned in Lieutenant Garling- 
ton's notice, but found depot of 240 rations marked by tripod all right. 
Boat damaged as stated. The cache of clothing opposite the place has 
been scattered by bears. Two bags of hard bread found with the cloth- 
ing ; one partly destroyed (also some ....). I shall now endeavor to 
examiue the English cache so that we may know what to depend upon, 
I ut it is now a dense fog and the ice not very secure, and it is possible I 



218 The Rescue of Greely. 

may have to return to my party without the information regarding the 
latter cache. It is impossible for Lieutenant Greely and party to move 
with their equipment to this neighborhood until later in the season, and 
it is my opinion he will go into winter quarters at his present position, 
and send for the provisions herein mentioned so soon as Rosse Bay 
freezes over. 

I take up all records concerning us for Lieutenant Greely's informa- 
tion, as I can not wait to make copies. 

Too cold to add further particulars. I start back at once. 

Geo. H. Rice, 

Signal Corps, 

October 6, 1883. Lady FranJdin Bay Expedition. 



My party is now pennanentty encamped on the west side of a small 
neck of land which connects the wreck-cache cove or bay and the one to 
its west. Distant about equally from Cape Sabine and Cocked Hat 
Island. Ail well. 

A. W. Gkeely, 
1st Lt., 5th Can., A. 8. 0. and Ass't, 
Sunday, Oct. 21, 1883. Commanding Expedition. 



It was a wonderful story. Jt told how the expedition, 
during its two years at Lady Franklin Bay, had marked 
out the interior of Griimell Land, and how Loekwood had 
followed the northern shore of Greenland, and had re- 
claimed for America the honor of " the farthest north.'" But 
there was no time now to think of what the expedition had 
accomplished, — that was already a matter of history. The 
pressing question was. where was Greely's party now ? and 
to that question it was too probable that there was but one 
answer. 

The records had named the wreck- cache as the site of 
Greely's camp, and preparations were made at once to go 
there. The cutter, with Colwell and his party on board, 
had not yet got away, having been stopped by the cries 
from the shore, and she now steamed back under the stern 



The Rescue. 219 

of the Thetis. Colwell was directed to go to the site of the 
cache and look for the explorers; and if any were alive — of 
which the record gave little hope — to tell them that relief 
was close at hand. As he was about to leave, he called out 
for a boat-flag, and one was thrown to him from the ship. 
This was bent on a boat-hook, and set up in the stern of the 
boat. 

Before the cutter had disappeared to the northward the 
commander of the expedition had gone on board the Bear, 
and the ship was under way, following the track of the cut- 
ter around the cape. The detachment under Harlow, which 
had found Greely's scientific records and instruments on 
Stalknecht Island, and the other party under Melville, some 
of whom had not yet returned, were to come after in the 
Thetis, which was left behind to pick them up. The pas- 
sage which the ships and the cutter were to make was about 
six miles, although from Payer Harbor to the wreck-cache, 
in a straight line, across the rugged neck of intervening 
land, it was less than half that distance. Fortunately the 
southerly gale had set the ice off shore into Kane Sea, leav- 
ing a clear passage around for the vessels. 

It was half past eight o'clock in the evening as the cutter 
steamed around the rocky bluff of Cape Sab'ne, and made 
her way to the cove, four miles further on, which Colwell 
remembered so well from his hurried landing with the stores 
on the terrible, night following the wreck of the Proteus. 
The storm, which had been raging with only slight intervals 
since early the day before, still kept up, and the wind was 
driving in bitter gusts through the openings in the ridge 
that followed the coast to the westward. Although the sky 
was overcast, it was broad daylight, — the daylight of a dull 



220 The Rescue of Greely. 

winter afternoon, — and as the cutter passed along, Colwell 
could recognize the familiar landmarks of the year before ; 
the long sweep of the rocky coast, with its ice-foot spanning 
every cove, the snow gathered in the crevices, the projecting 
headlands, and the line of the ice-pack which had ground 
up the Proteus, dimly seen in the mists to the north, 
across the tossing waters of Kane Sea. At last the boat 
arrived at the site of the wreck cache, and the shore was 
eagerly scanned, but nothing could be seen. Rounding the 
next point, the cutter opened out the cove beyond. There, 
on the top of a little ridge, fifty or sixty yards above the 
ice-foot, was plainly outlined the figure of a man. Instantly 
the coxswain caught up the boat-hook and waved his flag. 
The man on the ridge had seen them, for he stooped, picked 
up a signal flag from the rock, and waved it in reply. Then 
he was seen coming slowly and cautiously down the steep 
rocky slope. Twice he fell down before he reached the foot. 
As he approached, still walking feebly and with difficulty, 
Colwell hailed him from the bow of the boat : 

"Who all are there left ? " 

" Seven left." 

As the cutter struck the ice, Colwell jumped off and went 
up to him. He was a ghastly sight. His cheeks were hol- 
low, his eyes wild, his hair and beard long and matted. His 
army blouse, covering several thicknesses of shins and jack- 
ets, was ragged and dirty. He wore a little fur cap and 
rough moccasins of uutanned leather tied around the leg. 
As he spoke, his utterance was thick and mumbling, and in 
bis agitation his jaws worked in convulsive twitches. As the 
two met, the man, with a sudden impulse, took off his glove 
and shook Colwell's hand. 



The Bescue. 221 

""Where are they ? " asked Col well, briefly. 

" In the tent," said the man, pointing over his shoulder, 
" over the hill — the tent is down." 

" Is Mr. Greely alive ? " 

" Yes, Greely's alive." 

" Any other officers ? " 

"No." Then he repeated absently, "The tent is down." 

" Who are you ? " 

"Long." 

Before this colloquy was over, Lowe and Norman had 
started up the hill. Hastily filling his pockets with bread, 
and taking the two cans of pemmican, Oolwell told the cox- 
swain to take Long into the cutter, and started after the 
others with Ash. Reaching the crest of the ridge, and look- 
ing southward, they saw spread out before them a desolate 
expanse of rocky ground, sloping gradually from a ridge on 
the east to the ice-covered shore, which at the west made in 
and formed a cove. Back of the level space was a range of 
hills rising up eight hundred feet, with a precipitous face, 
broken in two by a gorge, through which the wind was 
blowing furiously. On a little elevation directly in front 
was the tent. Hurrying on across the intervening hollow, 
Colwell came up with Lowe and Norman, just as they were 
greeting a soldierly-looking man who had come out from the 
tent. 

As Colwell approached, Norman was saying to the man : 

" There is the Lieutenant." 

And he added to Colwell : 

" This is Sergeant Brainard." 

Brainard immediately drew himself up to the " position of 
the soldier," and was about to salute, when Colwell took his 
hand. 



"2-22 The Rescue of Greely. 

At this moment there was a confused murmur within the 
tent, and a voice said : 

-Who's there?" 

Norman answered, "It's Norman — Norman who was in 
the Proteus." 

This was followed by cries of " Oh, it's Norman ! " and a 
sound like a feeble cheer. 

Meanwhile one of the relief party, who in his agitation 
and excitement was crying like a child, was down on his 
hands and knees trying to roll away the stones that held 
down the flapping tent cloth. The tent was a " tepik " or 
wigwam tent, with a fly attached. The fly with its posts 
and ridge-pole had been wrecked by the gale which had 
been blowing for thirty-six hours, and the pole of the tepik 
was toppling over, and only kept in place by the guy ropes. 
There was no entrance except under the flap opening, which 
was held down by stones. Colwell called for a knife, cut a 
slit in the tent cover, and looked in. 

It was a sight of horror. On one side, close to the open- 
ing, with his head towards the outside, lay what was appar- 
ently a dead man. His jaw had dropped, his eyes were 
open, but fixed and glassy, his limbs were motionless. On 
the opposite side was a poor fellow, alive to be sure, but 
without hands or feet, and with a spoon tied to the stump of 
his right arm. Two others, seated on the ground, in the 
middle, had just got down a rubber bottle that hung on the 
tent pole, and were pouring from it into a tin can. Directly 
opposite, on his hands and knees, was a dark man with a 
long matted beard, in a dirty and tattered dressing-gown 
with a little red skull cap on his head, and brilliant, staring 
eyes. As Colwell appeared, he raised himself a little, and 
put on a pair of eye-glasses. 



The Rescue. 223 

"Who are you?" asked Cohvell. 

The man made no answer, staring at him vacantly. 

" Who are you ? " again. 

One of the men spoke up : " That's the Major — Major 
Greely." 

Cohvell crawled in and, took him by the hand, saying to 
him, " Greely, is this you?" 

"Yes," said Greely in a faint, broken voice, hesitating and 
shuffling with his words, "Yes — seven of us left — here we 
are — dying — like men. Did what I came to do — beat the 
best record." 

Then he fell back exhausted. 

The four men in the tent with Greely were two Sergeants, 
Elison and Fredericks; Bierderbick, the hospital steward; 
and Private Connell, who with Brainard and Long were all 
that remained of the twenty-five members of the Lady 
Franklin Bay Expedition. The scene, as Cohvell looked 
around, was one of miseiy and squalor. The rocky floor 
was covered with cast-off clothes, and among them were 
huddled together the sleeping-bags in which the party had 
spent most of their time during the last few months. There 
was no food left in the tent but two or three cans of a thin, 
repulsive-looking jelly, made by boiling strips cut from the 
sealskin clothing. The bottle on the tent-pole still held a 
few teaspoonfuls of brandy, but it was their last, and they 
were sharing it as Cohvell entered. It was evident that 
most of them had not long to live. 

Connell was for the moment in the worst condition of all. 
When Cohvell first saw his nearly inanimate body, it seemed 
that life was extinct; and in fact he had almost ceased to 
breathe. He was speechless, his heart barely pulsating, his 



224 The Rescue of Greely. 

body cold, and all sensation gone. The brandy which his 
companions were giving him revived him a little, and with 
returning consciousness, he could just gather the idea that 
relief had come, and that he must brace himself to live. 

Elison, who was next him, though not in such dire ex- 
tremity, was little better off. His hands and feet had been 
frozen off in a journey made seven months before, in a vain 
attempt to get the English meat at Cape Isabella, and all 
that time he had lain helpless in his sleeping-bag. Cared 
for by the others, his mind and body had wasted somewhat 
less than theirs, but he had nearly reached the limit of his 
endurance. 

The two others in the tent, Sergeant Fredericks, and 
Bierderbick, the hospital steward, were too weak and ex- 
hausted to stand long, much less to walk. Their worst 
symptom, apart from their weakness, was their swollen con- 
dition. In their experience of the last six months, when 
they had seen the others pass away, one after another, they 
had learned to recognize this as the surest sign of the ap- 
proaching end, and although now their faculties were more 
or less blunted, they had realized that the hand of death 
was on them, and that a little more would put an end to the 
horrors of existence. 

Except Council and Elison, the feeblest of the party was 
Lieutenant Greely. His strength was failing fast. He could 
not stand upright, and for some time he had not left his 
sleeping-bag. He lived on the food which the others 
brought him, but all pangs of hunger had ceased, and his 
wasted form and sunken eyes and swollen joints told plainly 
enough what was in store for him. 

The two other survivors of the party, Long and Brainard, 



The Rescue. 225 

•who had been first found, were in somewhat better condi- 
tion. They were men of more than ordinary endurance, 
and it is of course idle to speculate upon what might have 
been their end if relief had not been at hand. Brainard, 
though much weakened, had latterly been Lieutenant 
Greely's right-hand man. Long had been the hunter for 
the starving party, and it was necessary to increase his pit- 
tance of food above that of the others, so that he might have 
strength for his work, but the effects of his continued effort 
could be seen in his wasted body. His journeys had grown 
shorter and shorter from week to week, and in the stormy 
weather which prevailed during much of the time at Cape 
Sabine, he could not go at all. 

As soon as Colwell understood the condition of affairs, he 
sent Chief-Engineer Lowe back to the cutter to put off to 
the Bear with Long, to report what had happened, and 
bring off the others with the surgeon and stimulants. Fred- 
ericks and Bierderbick presently got up and came out. Col- 
well gave them, as well as Greely and Elison, a little of the 
biscuit lie had in his pocket, which they munched slowly 
and deliberately. Then he gave them another bit, while 
Norman opened one of the cans of pemmican. Scraping off 
a little with a knife Colwell fed them slowly by turns. It 
was a pitiable sight. They could not stand up and had 
dropped down on their knees, and held out their hands, beg- 
ging for more. After they had each been fed twice, they 
were told that they had had enough, that they could not eat 
more then without danger ; but their hunger had now come 
back with full force, and they begged piteously to be helped 
again, protesting that it could do them no harm. Colwell 
was wisely deaf to their entreaties and threw away the can. 
15 



226 The Rescue of Greely. 

When Greely found that he was refused he took out a can 
of the boiled sealskin, which had been carefully husbanded, 
and which he said he had a right to eat, as it was his own. 
This was taken away from him, but while Colwell was at 
work trying to raise the tent, some one got the half-emptied 
can of pemmican, and by the time it was discovered the 
party had scooped out and eaten its contents. 

The weaker ones were like children, petulant, rambling 
and fitful in their talk, absent, and sometimes a little inco- 
herent. While they were waising for the return of the boat, 
Colwell and the ice-masters did their best to cheer them up 
by telling them that relief was at hand, and that the others 
would soon arrive. They could not realize it, and refused to 
believe it. So they were humored, and by way of taking up 
their thoughts, Colwell told them something of what had 
been going on in the world during their three years of exile. 
Curiously enough, there was much that they knew already. 
It turned out that among the stores from the Proteus were 
two boxes of lemons, and the fruit had been wrapped up in 
scraps of English newspapers — "those lemons which your 
dear wife put up for us," as one of them said to Colwell, in 
a moment of wandering fancy. The latter could only dis- 
claim the imaginary obligation to an imaginary person, but 
the impression had already faded. 

As Greely complained of cold, Colwell gave him his 
gloves, and persuaded him to go back to his sleeping-bag. 
This was lying under the fallen tent-cloth, which the party 
had been too weak or too discouraged to raise up and dis- 
engage. Where the single remaining pole supported the 
tent there wa3 a clear space of perhaps six feet, just enough 
for a man to stand upright, but around it the canvas was 



The Rescue. 227 

lying on the ground. The bag, from which Greely had 
hardly moved for a month, was found under the canvas, 
and by the united efforts of the three men the tent was 
partly raised. 

Meanwhile the Bear had arrived and Lowe had gone oil 
in the cutter, taking with him Sergeant Long. Long was 
too weak to get on board without assistance, and was l.fted 
over the side by some of the crew and taken to a chair in 
the ward-room. In reply to questions about the party and 
their condition, Long, in a husky voice, told his story : that 
all were dead except Greely and five others, who were on 
shore in " sore distress — sore distress"; that they had had a 
hard winter, and " the wonder was how in God's name they 
had pulled through. " JSTo words can describe the pathos of this 
man's broken and enfeebled utterance, as he said over and 
over "a hard winter— a hard winter"; and the officers who 
were gathered about him in the ward-room felt an emotion 
which most of them were at little pains to conceal. The 
first sign of the relief expedition which had reached the camp 
was the sound from the steam whistle of the Thetis, re- 
calling the shore parties at Payer Harbor. Lieutenant 
Greely, lying on the ground in his tent, had heard it, as 
it was borne faintly over the neck of land, but the others 
had not noticed it in the roaring wind, and when he told 
them he had heard a steamer's whistle, they thought it only 
the impression of his disturbed imagination. Long crawled 
out of the tent and bracing himself against the wind, strug- 
gled up to the ridge ; but nothing could be seen but the rocky 
coast, and the ice-foot, and the chopping sea with the pack 
stretching off in the distance. It was a bitter disappoint- 
ment. Long went back disheartened, but after waiting un- 



228 The Rescue of Greely. 

easily a little while longer, lie mounted the ridge a second 
time. Still there was nothing to bo seen but the same hope- 
less prospect, and ho was about to return again when the 
cutter came into view around the point above. After all 
these months of waiting it was hard to believe that he was 
not dreaming, but when he saw the coxswain wave the 
familiar Hag, he knew that relief had come at last. 

This was Long's story. While he was telling it the cutter 
h:ul taken on coal and water, and supplies for the starving 
men on shore — condensed milk, beef extract, and stimulants. 
The doctor gave Long a milk punch and some beef tea, and 
leaving him in charge of Lieutenant Crosby, a party com- 
posed of the Commander of the Expedition, Lieutenant 
Emory, Ensign Reynolds, Dr. Ames, and several men from 
the crew, started in the cutter for the shore. The gale had 
made a heavy sra, and although the shore was not far off, 
everybody was wet through before reaching it. As the cut- 
ter approached the ice-foot Norman was seen on shore. Fol- 
lowing his indications the party landed at the deep cove filled 
with ice to the westward of the camp, and from here they 
hurried up the ridge to the tent. 

As soon as the first greetings were over, preparations were 
at once made to apply restoratives to the weakest of the sur- 
vivors, and to give them suitable food. Soon after, the Tin tis 
came in sight, and signal was made to her to send her sur- 
geon, with stretchers and more men. In reply to this signal, 
Lieutenant Usher and Ensign Harlow, Chief-Engineer Mel- 
ville, and Dr. Green, with a party of seamen, came ashore 
from the Thetis, and joined the others at work around the 
tent. The doctors, with the assistance of some of the officers 
and men, kindled a fire near the tent, under the lee of a 



The Rescue. 229 

rock, using charred bits of wood that were lying about, the 
remains of former tires. Over this, and over an alcohol 
stove which Lad been brought ashore, milk punch and beef 
extract were warmed, and given every ten minutes or so, 
for the next two hours, to the invalids who were lying in 
and about the tent. 

Gradually, all the survivors were restored, though they 
remained still in a dazed condition. Before the rescue, all 
seemed to have given up hope. They had ceased to think 
much about anything, or even to feel much. The craving 
for food was almost gone, and it was not until they had had 
some that it came back, like a drunkard's craving for rum. 
As soon as they had taken a little food, they wanted to eat 
voraciously anything they could get. If they had had good 
weather they might have been much better off, but the 
storm, which had kept up for two days with incessant fury, 
had weakened them, broken their spirits. They could not 
go out for food, fur they were too weak to stand against the 
wind ; and their tent, which had made at least a habitation, 
had been wrecked the day before, and although it had fallen 
down almost on them, they could not raise it up. A little 
more and the other pole would have gone, leaving them 
buried in the covering, or if they had managed to crawl out, 
without shelter from the wind. 

With most of them the rescue hardly made a revulsion of 
feeling. Except the commander, they took it as a matter of 
course. There was a little, a very little excitement, and 
they were perhaps more than ordinarily talkative, but in 
general they did not seem to rise or fall much above or be- 
low the level of ordinary good spirits. Probably of tough 
fibre to begin with, their year of privation and hopelessness 



230 The Rescue of Gredy. 

had blunted or deadened their recollection of the world, as 
they had known it, and the feelings to which the recollec- 
tion gave rise. In one thing, however — in their treatment 
of the helpless ones in their diminished party — they ap 
peared to the officers of the relief ships to have shown 
though tfulness and care. When Fredericks and Bierderbk-k 
took down the bottle, it was to give the best part of the last 
brandy they had to Connell, of whom all hope had been 
given up. Elison had been cared for through seven months, 
his companions keeping him supplied with food from their 
scanty stores, which they were each day less and less able to 
replenish. 

Notwithstanding his interview with Colwell, Greely's first 
question, when the party from the Bear came up, was 
" whether they were not Englishmen ? " and upon being told 
that they were his countrymen, he said, " I am so glad to 
see you." There was some little talk with him, and with 
the others of the party about their families, of whom the re- 
lief expedition had happily nothing but good news to give ; 
for care had been taken, the last thing before sailing, to get 
word from the friends of all who Lad been at Lady Franklin 
Bay, and it had been learned that the nearest and dearest 
of all, without exception, were still alive and well. " This 
seems so wonderful," said Greely ; and when he was told 
that the pictures of his wife and children were on board the 
Thetis, he added, "It is so kind and thoughtful." 

All the survivors were eager to leave the place which had 
been their refuge for the past eight months. "When Long 
had once got off to the ship, although he had left the tent 
expecting to return, he had no wish to go back, even for a 
moment. The only feeling among them all was a desire to 



The Rescue. 231 

get away from the scene of their sufferings ; and when in 
answer to their questions, they were told that the surgeon 
must decide when they could be moved, Greely said plain- 
tively : " It seems so long to wait." 

While the doctors were applying restoratives and prepar- 
ing the sick men for transfer to the ships, a look was taken 
at the camp and its surroundings. The plain or level space 
in which lay Camp Clay, as it had been named by Greely, 
was about two hundred yards long, running east and west, 
and extended back to the southward perhaps one hundred 
and fifty yards from the shore, but separated from it by the 
rid<>;e on which Long had first been seen. On the land side 
it was shut off by the chain of rocky, snow-covered hills, 
divided by ravines filled with glaciers. Near the western 
end, where the cove made in, was the hut in which the 
party had lived during the winter, and from which they had 
moved only a month before. The walls of the hut were 
made of loose rocks filled in with moss. They were three 
feet thick and very solid, and the labor of building them 
must have cost no slight effort. The hut was twenty-five 
feet long and seventeen feet wide, and barely held the whole 
party. It was four feet high, and had been roofed in with 
the canvas that had been saved from the Proteus, stretched 
over a whale-boat, which had been turned bottom up and 
placed on the walls as a ridge-pole. This was the boat 
which Beebe had left at the Cape in 1882, and which, when 
Greely arrived, was sound except for a little hole which had 
been covered by a patch of lead. The hut was placed in 
a hollow not far from the ice foot, and in May the occupants 
(there were seventeen still living) were driven from it by the 
water from the melting snow and ice, and moved to the 



232 The Rescue of Greely. 

tent, which was pitched on higher ground, one hundred and 
fifty yards away. After the hnt was deserted, the boat had 
been taken down and broken up for fuel, and nothing was 
left of it but the fragments of its bow. 

Fifty yards beyond the tent, on a slope that formed the 
eastern side of the plain, were the graves where ten of the 
party were buried— the two Lieutenants, Kislingbury and 
Lockwood, the Eskimo Christiansen, and seven others, 
Cross, Linn, Jewell, Ellis, Halston, Whisler, and Israel. 
The grave of Sergeant Cross, who was the first to die, was 
marked by a row of stones surrounding it, and the next 
two or three also showed signs of having; been made with 
care. But after these, the survivors growing fewer and 
weaker, the later graves showed less and less of preparation, 
until at the end there was little done besides placing on the 
body a thin covering of the gravelly dust that formed the 
only soil about the place ; and from one or two a hand or 
foot protruded. 

It is not easy to give an idea of the desolate and horrible 
aspect of this bleak and barren spot, as it looked to those 
who reached it on that memorable Sunday in June, 1884. 
In front lay the sea with its ice-pack stretching away to the 
northward, and at the back the glaciers and rocky preci- 
pices of the mountains. On one side was the slope with its 
rude graves, and on the other the deserted and roofless hut, 
with the ice-foot below it; while between them was the 
wrecked tent, in which lay the remnant of the expedition, 
half dead with cold, and hunger, and distress. Everywhere 
was the barren rock, except where the snow still lay deep in 
the hollows. There was no soil, except the sandy disinte- 
gration of the rocks themselves, and but little of that. On 



The Rescue. 233 

the southern slopes, here and there, were little patches of 
flowering moss, the only vegetation that could find support 
in this Arctic wilderness. At the foot of the ridge that 
faced the shore lay the body of Schneider, who had died 
four days before, and whom the others had been too weak 
to bury. Everywhere, around the hut and around the tent, 
were scattered broken cans, rude cooking utensils, and tat- 
tered clothing. 

It was determined soon after the camp was reached, that 
the bodies of the dead should be brought back with the liv- 
ing to the United States. Greely remonstrated at this de- 
cision, and spoke of the desire of his men to lie where they 
had died, or, as he said of one of them, "in the ground 
consecrated by his great achievements." However reason- 
able might be this sentiment, it was felt that the friends of 
the dead would have wishes which deserved at least equal 
consideration, and the pains and expense which the Govern- 
ment had willingly borne to bring from Siberia the bodies 
of De Long and his companions made it clear that the relief 
expedition would fail in its duty if it left these other ex- 
plorers in their rude graves at Cape Sabine. 

As soon as the surgeons had reported that the survivors 
were sufficiently restored to make it safe to remove them, 
they were taken to the ships. Five of them, Lieutenant 
Greely, Sergeants Brainard and Elisor), and Bierderbick and 
Connell, were placed upon stretchers and carried down to 
the ice foot of the cove, where they were put in their sleep- 
ing-bags on board the boats. Fredericks insisted that he 
was strong enough to walk, but such strength as he could 
put forth was largely due to excitement, and it was found 
that he needed the help of two strong seamen to support 



y 



234 The Rescue of Greely. 

him on the way down. Leaning on their shoulders, he fol- 
lowed the slow procession as it wound its way around the 
rocks and through the snow-filled hollows to the sea. 

The gale had now increased almost to a hurricane, so that 
work with boats was full of danger even in crossing the 
short distance of a hundred yards or so to the ships. Sev- 
eral times the seas broke over the gunwales of the boats and 
marly tilled them. The survivors were got on board safely, 
but with difficulty, — Lieutenant Greely, with Brainard, 
Bierderbick, and Council, in the Thetis ; and Long, Freder- 
icks, and Elison in the Bear. No amount of care could pre- 
vent their having a severe wetting, but fortunately it did 
them no harm. They were saved, and had left behind them 
Camp Clay and its horrors. Greely fainted after being 
taken below, but he was shortly revived by spirits of am- 
monia. His clothes were carefully cut off and heavy flan- 
nels which had been warmed were substituted for them ; 
and after taking a teaspoonful of raw fresh beef he was made 
as comfortable as possible in Norman's berth in the ward- 
room. 

Meantime Emory was carrying out the orders given him 
Borne time before to collect the property belonging to the 
camp and to exhume and bring off the bodies. Articles of 
all kinds were scattered about the tent, — clothing, sleeping- 
bags, note-books and diaries, guns and ammunition, empty 
tins, cooking utensils roughly constructed, — the debris of the 
winter, most of it little better than rubbish. Everything of 
value was first carefully collected, to be returned to the 
owners, — or to their representatives, for most of the owners, 
unhappily, lay on the ridge across the hollow. One of the 
seamen found a pocket-book containing a large roll of bank 



The Rescue. 235 

bills, which the owner, for what reason it is hard to say, had 
carried with him to Lady Franklin Bay. Within the tent, 
near each sleeping-hag was found a little package of cher- 
ished valuables carefully rolled up, and addressed to friends 
or relatives at home. It was not alone to the dead that 
these belonged ; the survivors, too, had already made up 
their little packages. >~ 

The work of taking up the bodies was one of little diffi- 
culty. It was only needed to remove the thin covering of 
sand from the mounds that formed the graves. Little could 
be seen of the condition of the bodies, as they had been 
clothed, and all that appeared was intact. In preparing 
them subsequently, it was found that six, those of Lieuten- 
ant Kislingbury, and of Jewell, Ralston, Henry, Whisler, and 
Ellis, had been cut, and the flesh removed. Care was taken 
that there should be no mistake about their identity, and as 
each one was taken up, it was given a number correspond- 
ing with a number on a drawing made of the burial-ground. 
The names were afterwards designated by Brainard, who 
had been in charge of the burials, so that the identification 
was complete. 

The bodies were carefully wrapped in blankets and car- 
ried from the graves to the boats. The shrivelled form of 
poor Schneider, who had perished only four days before, was 
brought up from the edge of the cove, where it lay covered 
with a blanket, and placed with the others. It was hard 
work to bring them safely off to the Thetis, which was to 
receive them. The ships could only with difficulty be kept 
head to wind, and the frequent squalls knocked them off, 
broadside to, when their rail would be driven almost into 
the water. The boats in coming off' were nearly swamped, 



236 The Rescue of Greely. 

and several times they were in danger of losing their freight, 
if not of sinking with it. As one of them came aloncfsids 
the Thetis, two of the bodies were carried out by the swash 
of the sea, but they were recovered by one of the seamen 
before they could sink. 

It was near midnight, and the last boat was about to re- 
turn to the shore for the few who had been left there, when 
Colwell strolled off with Ash, the ice-master, to take a look 
at the stone hut. The same confused heaps of clothes and 
rubbish were to be found there that they had seen about the 
tent. Among the clothes Colwell recognized his uniform 
coat, which had somehow or other found its way ashore 
after the Proteus wreck. Looking out from the side of 
the hut to the ice-foot, his attention was fixed by a dark 
object outlined on the white snow. Following a path which 
led to it from where he stood, Colwell found the mutilated 
remains of a man's body. It was afterwards identified from 
a bullet-hole as that of Private Henry, who had been exe- 
cuted on the 6th of June. Wrapping it in a blanket, Col- 
well carried it to the landing-place, where a seaman took 
the bundle on his shoulder. Presently the boat came off, 
and all who had remained on shore were taken on board the 
Bear. 

The ships now steamed back to Payer Harbor, where they 
lay until the next morning to give the men a little rest after 
the labor and excitement of the past fifteen hours. At 
eleven o'clock on the forenoon of the 23d, Lieutenant Em- 
ory was directed to return with the Bear to the wreck camp. 
Sebree, Melville, and a number of men from the Thetis 
were detailed to go with him, to make another search, more 
extended than that of the day before, aud to include the 



The Rescue. 237 

coast from the ice limit, half a mile west of the camp, up to 
Cape Sabine. Two parties were landed, in charge of Sebree 
and Crosby. The search lasted several hours, and added 
nothing of importance to that already made, but everything 
was brought off, no matter how valueless or insignificant. 
During the Bear's absence the tin boxes containing Greely's 
scientific records and the standard pendulum with its long 
narrow case, which had been set up on end in the cairn, 
were brought to the Thetis from Stalknecht Island, where 
Harlow had discovered them. 

At 5 p.m. the Bear returned to Payer Harbor. The wind 
had meantime slackened, and the ice in Kane Sea was mov- 
ing rapidly to the southward, so that as the Bear came 
steaming along it closed up just astern of her the narrow 
passage through which the vessels had passed and repassed 
around Cape Sabine, and which had only opened at their 
arrival. So closely was the Bear followed by the incoming 
pack that she barely escaped the crush of ice off the Cape. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CAPE SABINE TO DISKO. 

At four o'clock on the afternoon of June 23d, the work of 
the relief squadron having been accomplished, and all that 
was left of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition having been 
found and taken on board, the Thetis and the Bear, driven 
out by the ice, left Payer Harbor and started on their return 
voyage. It was perhaps with some little feeling of regret 
that there was not an opportunity even to attempt the pas- 
sage of Kane Sea and Kennedy Channel : for there is 
always the enticing possibility of success, and it does not 
often happen that an Arctic expedition finds itself so well 
equipped, and certainly none had ever been so far north as 
Cape Sabine by the 23d of June, on its first season. The 
best prospect of success in reaching a very high latitude, apart 
from the chance of just happening upon an exceptional and 
extraordinary condition of the ice and water, is to be found 
in going up early and watching for an opportunity to make 
a dash in the first summer. If the conditions for advance, 
either by ice or by water, are highly unfavorable, it would 
seem to be better to return to the south and try another sea- 
son, rather than make the attempt with a crew exhausted 
by an Arctic winter. 

The ships reached Littleton Island at 8 p.m., and trans- 
ferred to the Bear five of the bodies of the dead explorers, 
in addition to the one — that of Henry — already on board of 
that vessel, with instructions to prepare them for transporta- 
(238) 



Cape Saline to Disko. 239 

tion in alcohol. These preparations were made on board 
the Thetis by Dr. Green, Chief-Engineer Melville, and 
Ensign Harlow, and on board the Bear by Dr. Ames, Lieu- 
tenant Crosby, and Lieutenant Colwell. The work was done 
on the forecastle, across which a sail was rigged as a cur- 
tain. During the process of preparing the bodies, they 
were examined and fully identified. Some of the dead 
could be recognized by the aid of the photograph of the 
Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, which had been taken before 
they started, a copy of which was on board the Bear. The 
others were known by some characteristic mark or peculi- 
arity, so that the identification in the case of all of them 
became a matter of absolute certainty. 

Of the surviving members of the expedition, the three 
who were in the best condition — Brainard, Fredericks, and 
Long — began already to show signs of improvement, and it 
was clear that their recovery was only a question of time, 
and a short time at that. Of the others, the hospital stew- 
ard, Bierderbick, was also doing well, though suffering from 
rheumatism. With Lieutenant Greely and Private Conn ell 
the effect of exposure and suffering had gone so far that for 
some time their lives were trembling in the balance, and 
they were only brought around by the skill and close watch- 
fulness of the surgeons. For poor Elison the medical , 
officers had grave apprehensions. As soon as he had health- 
ful food, the circulation of blood would give new life to the 
injured parts, and inflammation would doubtless set in. If 
his strength could first be re-established, amputation might 
save his life ; but it was feared from the first that his 
chances were slight. 

At Littleton Island, where the ships passed the night, 



«/ 



240 T7ie Rescue of Gnyhj. 

game was abundant and the shooting tine. If it had been 
necessary thousands of eider ducks and brant geese could 
have been secured. The former, when dressed for the table, 
weighs about five pounds, and the latter about six or seven. 
As the birds in the high latitudes are covered witli a down 
which is tedious to pluck, and the skin has a fishy taste, 
thov are generally skinned. Nothing can be found in these 
regions more delicious to the taste than the plump breasts 
of these birds. McGary Island appears to be the haunt 
most preferred by them ; thousands of them congregate on 
its sunny southern side, where their nests are made from 
down picked from their own breasts. The eggs of the duck 
are about as large as those of the Muscovy duck, and make 
excellent omelets. The shell is bluish, mottled with dark 
brown spots, ami thicker and stronger than that of the do- 
mestic duck. 

As the season is short, the operation of hatching is quickly 
finished ; the ducklings as soon as they break from the shell 
take to the water, and with their mothers begin to paddle 
south with increasing speed as they grow stronger. The 
same migratory instinct is found in all the birds hatched in 
these latitudes. 

The fresh beef remaining on board from the supply re- 
ceived at St. John's was reserved for the invalids, but the 
quantity was not large, and as the rapidity of their recovery 
depended somewhat upon the amount of fresh food that 
could be given them, the opportunity was taken to shoot 
enough game to last until the ships could reach the sett'e- 
ments on the Greenland coast. Guns and ammunition were 
served out to all who cared for the sport, and during the 
whole night the reports could be heard among the hills 



Cape Sabine to Dish). 241 

of the islands. It was a continuous fusillade. Great num- 
bers of birds were bagged and scores of eggs were brought 
in. The shooting was somewhat promiscuous, and was some- 
times carried on without much regard to other sportsmen in 
the line of shot, but fortunately no accident occurred. The 
amount of ammunition expended was nearly equal in weight 
to the game taken. It was amusing to watch the surprise 
of the sailors when they missed easy shots. Some of them 
would make an examination of the gun, as if it was respon- 
sible for the failure. Others were confident that the duck 
had carried away the entire load in his back. The sport 
was thoroughly enjoyed all the same, and though many of 
the amateur sportsmen came back empty-handed, the two 
ships were supplied with all the game that they could use. 
The Bear had four hundred ducks hanging that morning in 
the rigging. 

The ships left Littleton Island at 6.30 a.m. on June 24th, 
after depositing a record for the Alert in the Nares cairn, an- 
nouncing the result of the expedition, and directing her to 
return to Upernivik or Disko, where the other vessels would 
await her. The Thetis got under way first, having been 
moored to a berg. While the Bear was getting up her 
anchor, an oomiak and a kayak came alongside, filled with na- 
tives. The oomiak is an open flat-bottomed boat, made of 
skins, and large enough to hold several persons, while the 
kayak is a canoe only large enough for one man. The 
oomiak was pulled by seven Eskimo, men and women. One 
of the women was tattooed, which showed that she came 
from the western side of the Bay, probably from the neigh- 
borhood of Pond's Inlet. Some of the others may have be- 
longed to Etah. They had seen the ships when the latter 
16 



242 The Rescue of Greely. 

came up two days before, but had been unable to reach them 
on account of the gale. 

The women of the party were fine-looking and well 
dressed, and as usual brought off a number of walrus teeth 
and narwhal horns to exchange for provisions. As the 
spring advances and the ice clears out, the Eskimo are obliged 
to move north to follow the seal and walrus and to obtain 
birds and eggs on the breeding grounds about Cape Old sen 
and Littleton Island. This appears to be the northern 
limit of the migrations of the natives. Here they take the 
birds in great numbers, and these, with seal and walrus 
meat, constitute their winter fare. Undoubtedly these peo- 
ple had been about Littleton Island for months, and the Etah 
Eskimo had been there during the whole of the past winter. 

An open season in the Arctic, though coveted by the ex- 
plorer, is always dreaded by the Eskimo. It increases the 
difficulty of capturing seals and walrus, and often obliges 
them to go to great distances to procure the meat and oil 
needed for their long winters. Cold weather and exposure 
seem to have no terrors for them, but when the temperature 
rises above the freezing point, they suffer with heat. 

Leaving Littleton Island, the Thetis and Bear steamed to 
the entrance of Foulke Fiord, which was frozen solid. Here 
they remained until driven southward by the ice floes mov- 
ing down Smith Sound from Kane Sea. The Bear was 
directed in case of separation to rendezvous at Upernivik. 
On the way to Northumberland Island the same enormous 
icebergs, in great numbers, were found as on the way up, 
mile upon mile of them lying closely together. The close 
pack was met again late in the evening, and towards mid- 
night the Thetis anchored to a floe near Hakluyt Island. 



Cape Saline to Disko. 243 

The Bear was caught in the pack in mid-channel, and after 
drifting with it for a time, at half-past two in the morning 
she worked in and made fast by the Thetis. 

Early on the 25th. the ice opened in small leads and the 
ships worked around to the southwest side of Haklnyt Island. 
After another delay they succeeded during the afternoon in 
ramming their way past Northumberland Island. No leads 
could be found to the southward across Whale Sound, and 
the ships were moored to the best place they could find on 
the edge of the floe, although the position might have been 
unsafe if the ice had set in towards the shore. In the even- 
ing the ice was loosened by a turn of the tide, and after 
close and anxious watching, open water was discovered six 
miles away towards Cape Parry. No time was to be lost, 
arid by dint of heavy ramming the barrier was crossed, and 
the ships arrived at Cape Parry soon after ten o'clock. Lieu- 
tenant Lemly visited the cairn made on the passage up, and 
left a new record for Commander Coffin, bringing oif the 
old records. 

As soon as Lemly returned the expedition started again 
on its way south, and steamed through, leads and loose 
ice towards Wolstenholme Island. Soon after midnight, 
on the morning of the 2Gth, five steamers were sighted 
ahead. The relief ships came up with them at three o'clock, 
and fouud that they were all whalers, of which three, the 
Narwhal, Cornwallis, and Nova ZemWa, were among those 
left behind at the Duck Islands, while the two others, the 
Esquimaux and Jan Maen, had joined the belated fleet in 
Melville Bay. The point where they now were, 100 miles 
distant from Cape Sabine, was the most northerly that they 
had attained, and they had reached it six days after the 



244 The Rescue of Greely. 

Thetis. The Esquimaux, which had left Upernivik on the 
lltli, thirteen days after the relief ships, brought letters from 
Ensign Chambers on board the Loch Garry. At the date 
of writing he was still waiting for the Alert. The relief 
ships received letters from the whalers, to be mailed on ar- 
rival at St. John's. 

The news of the rescue was given to the whalers, so that 
they should not be tempted farther north, and the officers 
of the relief ships bade them a final good-bye. The Dundee 
sailors were parted from with regret. They had shown a 
cordial and friendly spirit in their rivalry on the common 
errand, and they had generously given such aid as they could 
to the relief expedition on the way up. Had an accident be- 
fallen the expedition some of them would doubtless have 
made their way to Cape Sabine, although too late to have 
rescued all of those who still survived on the Sunday when 
the Thetis and the Bear crossed over to the Cape. 

On the forenoon of June 26th, both ships were anchored to 
a sheet of ice near Saunders Island. The Triune and 
Polynia, the last of the Dundee fleet, were sighted near the 
Island. The relief ships remained here all day, as the wind 
blew strong from the north, and the barometer had fallen to 
29.10. Nothing was now to be gained by hurrying, and it 
was the best plan to keep a secure position as long as the 
indications of bad weather lasted. 

As the whalers had been at Saunders Island they had 
doubtless supplied the natives with everything that the 
latter needed, so that only a few came off with their sleds to 
the ships on the second visit. One of the dog teams con- 
tained several fine animals which the officers wanted, and 
trading was actively begun, various small articles being used 



Cape Sabine to Disko. 245 

for barter. Among the objects prized by the Eskimo 
were needles, food, buttons, which are used principally as 
ornaments by the women, and clothing, which has a peculiar 
value in that region. Ensign Harlow was successful in mak- 
ing a trade and secured a fine-looking, handsomely marked 
animal, which had, however, an unusually surly disposition. 
He refused to associate with the other dogs, or to partake of 
the same food. While all the others were skylarking about 
the decks or on the ice, the new dog was content to mope 
about the rigging near the mainmast, where he would snarl 
at every kindly interference. He seemed to be afraid to eat, 
and he never dared to bite. An Eskimo dog with no ap- 
petite and no bite in him was so much of a curiosity in those 
regions, where everything is hungry and where everything 
will bite, that all understanding of his nature was baffled. 
Harlow strove hard to make him take to the other dogs, but 
in vain. Only upon one occasion did he come out of his tor- 
por, and that was fatal to him. He attempted to walk on the 
main rail amidships, but fell overboard and was drowned. 

Notwithstanding the barometer, the weather continued 
fine, and in the evening an advance was made towards 
Conical Rock. The ice was loose but heavy, and towards 
midnight a shift of wind to the southwest packed it tightly, 
and both ships were anchored to icebergs. While the Thetis 
was being secured in a strong tideway, she came into colli- 
sion with a berg, carrying away her head-booms. Two or 
three hours later the berg to which she was moored pivoted 
around, exposing the ship to the heavy floes that were driveu 
by the wind and tide up lower Smith Sound. As the Bear's 
anchorage appeared steadier, the Thetis steamed over ai.d 
sent her a line to hold on by; but the freshening wind soon 



24G The Rescue of Grecly. 

slipped the Beards ice anchors, and the ships then steamed 
into the soft lloe ice, where they remained during the rest of 
the night. 

On the morning of the 27th a lead opened towards 
Conical Bock. While the ships were steaming through it, 
Hans, the Eskimo dog-driver of the Bear, jumped over the 
rail, and starting at a run over the ice floes, made for the 
shore two miles away at the Petowik Glacier. It was after- 
wards found that his mind was disordered. The ship fol- 
lowed in among the leads to head him off, and at a favor- 
able moment two of the seamen went after him. After an 
exciting chase of half an hour ho was captured and brought 
back to the ship. During the chase one of the men fell 
through the ice, and got a ducking, but his companion 
managed to haul him out. 

Shortly after this adventure, the ships reached Conical 
Rock, where they were secured to grounded icebergs, and a 
record was left for Commander Coffin in the cairn built on 
the way north. After a two hours' delay, they were again 
under way, forcing a passage by ramming through heavy 
bars, and in and out of tortuous leads, until they were 
nearly abreast of Cape York, whet! a dense fog set in, with 
enow. The ice-pack off Cape York compelled a detour to 
the westward of eighteen miles, after which the ships 
slowly and with difficulty worked their way back into open 
water near the Bushnan Islands, east of Cape York. It was 
next to impossible to distinguish leads in the fog and driving 
snow, and at one time the Thetis came up against the hind 
ice in a bight, and bulling it at full speed ran up half a 
length on the ice. It. became apparent that nothing was to 
be gained by hurrying under such circumstances, and the 



Cape Sabine to Disho. 247 

ships were therefore anchored to the land iee, to wait for 
clearing weather. 

During the night of June 27th, the wind though very light 
hauled to the eastward, and by the morning of the 28th it 
had cleared sufficiently to show open water near the 
grounded McClintock icebergs, thirty miles to the southeast 
of Cape York. For four hours, the ships were able to make 
good progress in this direction, but at one o'clock in the 
afternoon, a bar of ice made it necessary to secure them to 
the edge of the pack and wait. Here they remained at 
anchor between two large bergs. 

On this day, the condition of Sergeant Elison began to give • 
great anxiety. He was delirious most of the time, and he 
seemed to be threatened with congestion of the brain. The 
two surgeons were in frequent consultation, but his symp- 
toms grew steadily worse during the next week. 

The others were all on the mend. Even Lieutenaut 
Greely and Connell, though still very weak, and with a mor- 
bid appetite, had begun to sleep naturally; their muscles 
were filling out, their voices were stronger, and their dis- 
turbed nerves had become more tranquil. On the 28th 
Greely was dressed for the first time and sat up for two 
hours. 

On the morning of the 29th the ice bar which had de- 
layed the ships began to loosen, and they got under way and 
passed through it. They were now driven eastward under 
full speed in order to gain every inch, for by this time it 
was evident that without a vigorous effort, they might be 
delayed here as long on the return as on the way up. The 
advancing season helped somewhat, but the Bay was still 
blocked with ice, contrary to the usual conditions at this time 



248 T7ie Rescue of Greely. 

of the year, and bade fair to remain so for some time. During 
a part of the afternoon the ships had a clear open lead, and 
went along smoothly ; bat at other times it was necessary to 
ram continually under a full head of steam through the 
broad sheets in order to pass along the land ice from one 
water space to another. The success of thus vigorously at- 
tacking the pack justified the effort, for before midnight, 
the expedition had gained sixty miles to the eastward. A 
final attempt at ramming brought the Thetis solidly up 
against the pack as if she had butted a wall, knocking down 
everybody on deck, and nearly throwing the Captain out of 
the crow's-nest. The ship rebounded twenty feet from the 
shock. After this, the effort was abandoned for the night, 
and the ships were moored to the land ice in a narrow ice 
dock or canal of open water left between the closing floes, 
with the coast in plain sight around the curve of the Bay. 

Early on the morning of the next day, the 30th, the wind 
hauling to the eastward, the ships were again under way 
and steamed through an open lead for five or six miles, 
passing many large icebergs. Again they met heavy ice, 
from three to five feet thick, and they continued ramming 
their way from lead to lead, through the waste of floes and 
broken bergs, until ten o'clock in the forenoon. At this 
point the Thetis was beset. While trying to free herselt 
by going astern to gain room to charge the large floes 
ahead, she backed into a smaller floe and twisted off her 
rudder head. It was the second injury to the rudder, but 
it was temporarily repaired by Lieutenant Sebree, and the 
ships continued on their way. The Devil's Thumb and 
Sugar Loaf Mountain were now in sight, prominent points 
on the Greenland coast to the north of the Duck Islands, 
and the work of crossing Melville Bay was nearly over. 



Cape Sabine to Dish). 249 

At four o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th, the Alert 
and Loch Garry were discovered beset in the ice-pack. The 
Thetis and Bear immediately broke their way through and 
released them. The last mail from home was brought bv 
the Alert. The two ships had left Upernivik on the 19th of 
June, and with much difficulty in passing through heavy 
ice, succeeded in making the Berry Islands, where all the 
leads closed. Here they were anchored to the ice to await 
an opening. On the 24th a gale sprang up which made it 
necessary to cnt an ice dock for the Loch Garry. This was 
done in the way suggested by Commander Markham. The 
ice was four feet thick, and two hours finished the work and 
the docking of the ships. Next day the gale ceased, and the 
ships worked to the northward, following the inshore leads 
past Cape Shackleton and the Duck Islands, where they 
were again stopped by solid ice. Owing to the smaller 
engine power of the Alert, she was obliged to keep out of 
the ice when in danger of being beset, or resort to docks to 
avoid nips, or to torpedoes to force a lead, — difficulties which 
the Thetis and Bear, with their greater power, usually over- 
came by ramming. Moreover, the Loch Garry, being 
nearly helpless in the ice, was a constant source of difficulty 
and delay. Frequently the Alert, after getting successfully 
through a lead, was compelled to return and extricate the 
collier, as the latter was caught by the swiftly closing floes. 
During the 26th and 27th, the Alert worked continuously, 
day and night, to gain only eight miles. "When found, she 
was off the Devil's Thumb, in latitude 71° 30' K, and 
within the dnngerous navigation of Melville Bay. 

The four vessels now started on their way southward, but 
the leads closing under the influence of a flood tide and a 



250 The Rescue of Greely. 

southerly wind, and a dense fog setting in, they were 
anchored for the night to the floes. Next day, July 1st, the 
wind was still from the south, and the ships got under way, 
the Thetis leading, followed by the Bear, Alert, and Loch 
Garry in line astern, to take an inshore lead, which appeared 
to extend to the Duck Islands. Numbers of icebergs were 
lying in their way, and the passage through the ice was diffi- 
cult and dangerous. At eight o'clock the Loch Garry stuck 
fast in a floe, and the Bear went to her assistance and got 
her out, after which the collier took the second place in the 
line. The fog now settling again, speed was reduced to two 
knots an hour, and fog signals were sounded frequently to 
indicate position. The ships felt their way slowly and cau- 
tiously up to the floe-edge and anchored. 

In the afternoon the fog lifted and the fleet was again 
under way, the Thetis and Bear breaking leads for the other 
ships. As they approached the Duck Islands, the Alert was 
caught by the floes, which had closed up after the passage ot 
the advance ships, and the latter were obliged to return and 
release her. Moving on from the Duck Island?, which had 
been the scene of the long detention of the Tlietis and Bear 
on the May up, the fleet passed Cape Shackleton, Horse 
Head, and Tassuisak. There was plenty of floe ice, but its 
character had completely changed in the past four weeks ; 
the floe pieces were smaller and less compact, and the ice 
showed none of its former hardness, yielding readily to 
ramming. 

It was on the morning of this day that Lieutenant Greely, 
to the delight of every one on board, first made his appear- 
ance on the deck of the Thetis. Before the fog had set in, 
the day was clear and bright, the sky blue, and the sun 



Cape Sabine to Disko. 251 

shining. Greely had waked up in the morning after a 
refreshing sleep, feeling better than at any time since the 
rescue. He enjoyed his breakfast of oatmeal and broiled 
beefsteak, and seemed to have lost his perpetual craving for 
more. After breakfast he was helped up on deck, and sat 
in the air, well bundled up, for an hour. From this time 
on, with the exception of one or two little set-backs, he was 
steadily gaining. He began to walk a little without assist- 
ance, and was encouraged to take such exercise in the open 
air as he could on board the ship. 

By this time, as most of the survivors had recovered their 
strength, the officers of the relief ships had learned the won- 
derful story of the expedition. The history of the station 
at Fort Conger had been briefly stated in the record left on 
Brevoort Island, — the two years passed at Discovery Har- 
bor, and the successful work of exploration, which had 
resulted in the completion of an accurate map of the whole 
interior of Griunell Land, and of a long stretch of the 
north Greenland shore. The record stopped with the arrival 
of the expedition at Cape Sabine, and the tragic story of 
the winter's sufferings at Camp Clay could only be learned 
by the recital of the survivors during the passage across the 
Bay. The brief outline of it may be given here, as the re- 
lief officers heard it from the actors themselves. 

Soon after the landing of the party from the ice floe at 
Baird Inlet, Lieutenant Greely sent Sergeant Rice and Jens, 
one of his Eskimo, to Cape Sabine, to find out what stores 
had been placed there. Rice accomplished the journey with 
difficulty, although the distance was not great, perhaps fif- 
teen miles in a straight line ; but it was found that Cape 



252 The Rescue of Grrecly. 

Sabine was on an island, and that a strait — now called 
Rice's Strait from its discoverer — extended from the head of 
Eosse Bay to Buchanan Sound. This strait was not yet 
frozen over, and cut Rice off from the Cape, compelling' a 
long detour to the westward. He returned on the 9th of 
October, and reported to Lieutenant Greely the news of the 
wreck of the Proteus, and the state of the three supply 
depots as far as he could ascertain it. Roughly speaking, 
there were in tbe three caches 1,000 rations, or forty days' 
full supply for the party. Greely did not allow himself to 
be discouraged at the prospect, but determined to move his 
command to the neighborhood of the depots, and the 21st 
of October found him established at Camp Clay. 

The hut, which has been already described, was built on 
low ground not far from the ice-foot, at a point sheltered 
by the ridges from the northerly and southerly gales. On 
the ground were spread clothing, buffalo coats, and sleeping- 
bags. The hut was barely large enough for the whole party 
to squeeze into it, when lying at full length, and the air- 
space gave an allowance of only seventy cubic feet to each 
man. In this they passed the winter. 

On the 1st of November, Lieutenant Greely took an ac- 
count of his stock of provisions, and it was determined to 
divide them so that they would last until March 1st, putting 
a little aside from time to time, so that at the end they 
would still have ten days' supplies left with which to start 
on the proposed journey to Littleton Island. It was in- 
tended to make this journey whenever the intervening 
strait was frozen over. Smith Sound, however, remained 
open, in part at least, during the whole winter, and none of 
the party ever crossed. The whale-boat left by Beebe at 



Cape Sabine to Dish). 253 

the Cape was used as the ridge-pole of the winter hut, and 
another whale-boat, which had been abandoned on the way 
down, and which had drifted ashore from Kane Sea, was 
consumed for fuel. 

The provisions found at the Cape were mostly in good 
condition, except those in the Nares cache, which Lieuten- 
ant Greely stated as having in great part deteriorated. The 
daily allowance established early in November, by which 
forty days' rations were to be made to last four months, was 
made up as follows : — 4-| ounces of meat and blubber, 6£ 
ounces of bread and dog biscuit, If ounces of canned vege- 
tables and rice, f of an ounce of butter and lard, -$> of an 
ounce of soup and beef-extract, and 1 ounce of berries, 
pickles, raisins, and milk, making altogether 14.88 ounces of 
food a day for each man. The food was only warmed, as 
there was not fuel enough to cook it. The idea upon which 
the party based their mode of life was to approach as nearly 
as possible to a condition of hibernating, and only the cooks 
and hunters made much exertion. These received a double 
ration. The others generally remained in their sleeping- 
bags, and slept sixteen or eighteen hours out of the twenty- 
four. 

Early in November, a party, composed of Sergeant Rice, 
Elison, Linn, and Fredericks, was sent to Cape Isabella to 
obtain the 150 pounds of meat left there by Nares. The 
temperature was now thirty degrees below zero, and the 
party was without shelter. Their sufferings from the cold 
and exposure were such that the only wonder is that any of 
them returned aliye. Struggling on with a courage and 
perseverance that were nothing less than heroic, they reached 
the Cape and secured the meat ; but on the return they were 



254 T/tc Rescue of Grcchj. 

compelled to abandon it at Baird Inlet. At Rosse Bay, 
Elison became helpless, his hands and feet being frozen. 
Rice then set out alone to the camp to gel assistance, the 
others remaining with Elison in his sleeping-bag, and so 

keeping him alive. Relief parties were at once sent out, 
and the sufferers were brought back to the hut, but Elison 
lost his feet and a part of his hands. In this condition he 
remained during the winter and spring, eared for by his 
companions, and thus he was found when the party was 
rescued. 

A little while before this. Long, who was the best shot of the 
party, had been sent with the two Eskimo to a point a little 
to the westward of the camp, near Rice's Strait, to look out 
for game. They took a tent with them, and remained tor 
several days, but they only succeeded in catching two seals. 
During the rest of the winter, hunting was impossible on 
account of the cold and the darkness. A few foxes were 
killed near the camp, and in the spring a bear was shot 
which yielded perhaps three hundred pounds of meat. 
These with two or three score of dovekies, — a bird weighing 
about a pound, — Mere all the supplies of game which could 
be secured at Cape Sabine. 

During the winter every one did his best to keep up the 
spirits of the party. There was not fuel enough to make 
any artificial heat in the hut, and the temperature was gen- 
erally from five to ten degrees above zero. In March the 
whole detachment came very near dying from asphyxia. 
Some one had lighted the alcohol stove to cook a meal, but 
had forgotten to remove the cloth that covered the smoke- 
hole in the roof. The ox}-gen of the air in the hut was 
quickly exhausted, and before anything could be done all 



Cape Sabine to Disko. 255 

tlie inmates were attacked with faintness and dizziness, and 
it was only with great difficulty that they stumbled out into 
the open air, many of them falling unconscious to the ground 
as soon as they got out, although the temperature was 4G° 
below zero. The after-effects of this accident were felt for a 
long time. 

During March another hunting expedition was undertaken 
by Long and his Eskimo, but without success. Up to this 
time, wonderfully enough, considering the circumstances, 
only one death bad occurred, that of Sergeant Cross, who died 
of scurvy on Jan. 18th. In April, the effects of the winter's 
privations began to tell fatally, and six of the party died 
during the month. Of these, Lieutenant Lockwood, Ser- 
geants Linn and Jewell, and the Eskimo Christiansen died 
at the camp. Sergeant Rice perished in an attempt to ob- 
tain the English meat which had been left at Baird Inlet in 
the preceding November. Fredericks, who accompanied 
him on the journey, returned alone, after burying his com- 
rade in the ice. The meat could not be found. The last 
death during the month was that of Jens Edward, the 
second Eskimo, who was drowned while hunting for seals in 
his kayak. 

By May the last vestige of the regular rations was ex- 
hausted, and the survivors of the party kept themselves 
alive fur a time on sand-shrimps and moss. The shrimp is 
a minute shell-fish, a quarter of an inch long, about four- 
fifths of its substance being shell, and one-fifth meat. The 
allowance of shrimps was from one to three ounces a day, 
according to the catch. A little sustenance was got out ot 
boiled reindeer moss, and as a last resort, the sealskin linings 
of the sleeping-bags were cut into strips and boiled, making 
a kind of jelly. 



256 The Rescue of Greely. 

Earlv in May, the water inyaded the hut, making it unin- 
habitable. The tent was then pitched on an elevation, and 
the exhausted party removed to it. During May and June 
eleven deaths occurred, the last on the 18th, four days be- 
fore the relief ships arrived ; and had these been delayed 
but a few hours, the death-roll would have had other names. 
Of the suffering and horror of those last three weeks, it is 
needless here to speak ; and the story, if it is told at all, 
must be told by the survivors themselves. 

It was only gradually, and with frequent interruptions, 
during the passage from Littleton Island to Upernivik, that 
the experience of the explorers at Cape Sabine was learned 
by the officers of the relief ships. At first, they were not 
encouraged to talk, but as they gained strength from day to 
day, the reminiscences of those whose health was best, shaped 
themselves into a connected narrative, until by the time 
that the Alert was met, every one had become familiar with 
the events of that terrible winter. 

Early on the morning of July 2d, the fleet reached the 
neighborhood of the Berry Islands, and the dangerous 
waters in which, the Thetis and Bear bad already had a 
disagreeable experience. The ice, jammed in against the 
land, left only a narrow lane off the islands filled with 
sunken rocks, none of which are marked on the small-scale 
charts of the Greenland coast. An occasional bump under 
such circumstances was to be expected. At three o'clock in 
the morning, the Thetis was leading, and the others keeping 
in her wake, the speed of the ships having been reduced to 
two knots. Although the Bear was following the Thetis 



Cape Saline to Disko. 257 

closely, the tide set her in a little, and she had the misfor- 
tune to run upon a rock, which the Thetis by good luck 
must have barely grazed. After hanging for two hours, the 
Bear was pulled off by her consorts without any injury. 

Half an hour later, upon reaching the Brown Islands, 18 
miles north of Upernivik, signal was made to the Alert to 
proceed to Disko with the Loch Garry under convoy, and 
to await there the arrival of the Thetis and the Bear. The 
latter put in at Upernivik, arriving at 11 a.m., July 2d, and 
anchored in the outer harbor, after a passage of less than 
five days from Cape York. 

The approach of the squadron had been seen in the early 
morning from Upernivik, and the village was alive with ex- 
citement. It was conjectured that its early return had a 
decisive meaning. Governor Elborg was too restless to 
wait for the arrival of the ships in port after he had seen 
them heading in, and pulled off three miles in his boat to 
meet them and learn the news. Reaching the deck, he 
rushed up to the commander, exclaiming, "Mem Gott, 
Captain, what news have you brought ? " The story of the 
expedition and the rescue aroused the good fellow's warmest 
sympathy. He wanted to see Lieutenant Greely, and was 
eager to do what he could for him. After a brief interview, 
he returned on deck, and told the story to his Eskimo boatmen. 

As the ships came up the harbor, all the inhabitants of the 
settlement, — there were less than two hundred of them, — 
could be seen standing on the hills and about the beach, their 
dark forms plainly outlined above the rocks. As soon as the 
vessels were secured, the Governor went ashore, and the na- 
tives gathered eagerly about him to learn the news. Great 
was their consternation when they learned that their coun- 
17 



258 The Rescue of Greely. 

try men, Jens and Christiansen, the two Eskimo from Proven, 
were among the lost. The two men had been among the 
foremost of the native population which centered at Uperni- 
vik ; and at no place was the disaster felt more keenly than 
at the little Greenland village, whose pecple were the first 
to receive the news that was later to shock the civilized world. 

The ships remained for two days at Upernivik. The Gov- 
ernor was unceasing in his kindness. The Danish colors of 
the settlement were kept at half-mast as long as the ships 
were there. At Elborg's suggestion the body of Christian- 
sen was retained on board, to be carried to Godhavn for 
burial. The two Eskimo dog-drivers, Hans and Nicolai, 
were discharged, and the dogs from the Thetis were landed, 
seven of them as a present to the Governor. 

As the Bear was most in need of coal, the sixty tons 
landed by the Loch Garry were taken on board in a lighter, 
which came near swamping during the operation. Elborg 
had been promoted to be Governor of Christianshaab, one of 
the more southerly settlements, and at his request, the whale- 
boat which Colwell had given him the year before, was 
taken down to Disko by the Bear, to be forwarded to its 
destination. 

During their stay, the relief ships had a little experience 
of the difficulties of lying in Upernivik harbor. A little 
before noon, on the day that they arrived, the wind blew up 
fresh from the southwest, with stiff squalls, driving both 
ships from their moorings, and great difficulty was found in 
securing them in the deep water and bad anchorage of the 
open roadstead, where the holding ground was mostly smooth 
rock. Danish Harbor was inaccessible, being tilled with 
icebergs. During the gale the Thetis was secured to a 



Cape Sabine to Dish). 259 

grounded berg, which later in the day capsized. The Bear 
was driven from her moorings and exposed to imminent 
danger, from which she was only extricated by good judg- 
ment and seamanship. 

In the outer harbor of the port there is a ridge with nine 
or ten fathoms of water upon it, shelving both ways into 
very deep water. As the wind was from the southwest, 
Emory intended to anchor on its western side, so that if his 
ship should drag it would be up hill. During a violent 
squall about noon, the Bear's anchor started and soon passed 
over this ridge into deep water, with sixty fathoms of chain 
up and down. The ship drove rapidly towards the rocky 
cliffs to leeward, and the promptest action was required. 
The danger was imminent, but at the proper moment the 
Bear's engine was backed and the ship's stern turned to 
windward and away from the cliff. The manoeuvre was 
most admirable and seamanlike, for as the ship's head fell 
off to leeward she just cleared the rocks upon which a few 
moments before she had been driving. The Bear then got 
her anchor and steered for a small island on the south side 
of the port, where she lay in security. Later in the day the 
Thetis was driven from her anchorage, and was forced to 
seek shelter under the same island on the Bear's port bow. 
Dragging here, she fouled the Bear's chain, and for a mo- 
ment it seemed that both ships must be driven together. 
The Bear veered chain while the Thetis was started ahead 
at full steam, with a starboard helm, clearing the Bear's 
head-booms by a yard or two. This manoeuvre cost the 
Thetis an anchor, but it prevented a smash-up. 

On the afternoon of July 3d, after bidding the excellent 
Governor a last good-bye, the Thetis and the Bear got under 



260 The Rescue of Greely. 

way for Disko. As they stood out of the harbor, Elborg 
fired a salute of six guns from the little fortification at the 
settlement. As there were no guns on board the ships, the 
salute was returned by dipping flags and sounding the steam 
whistles. Soon after clearing the harbor, the Thetis struck 
a rock, but moved over it without injury. 

The ships had now passed from the region of dangerous 
ice. On the way south they met occasional floes, and passed 
numbers of imbedded icebergs, but these were of slight im- 
portance after all that had been gone through in Melville 
Bay, and they were avoided in the clear weather with little 
difficulty. After crossing the mouth of the Waigat, the 
wind, which had been northerly, shifted to the southwest. 
The pack-ice was finally left behind, and the ships found 
themselves iu a moderate sea. 

During the 4th of July the Thetis and Sear continued 
on their way southward without interruption. At noon the 
ships were dressed with flags in honor of the day. The en- 
sign was hoisted at the peak and the fore royal masthead, 
the pennant at the main, the flag of the American Yacht 
Club at the mizzen, and the Jack forward. At half-past 
three on the morning of the 5th, the ships arrived at Disko, 
where they found the Alert and Loch Garry awaiting them. 

As the other ships had reached Disko two days before, 
the result of the expedition had been made known, but a 
keen desire was aroused to hear from the Thetis and the 
Bear the actual circumstances of the rescue, and to see the 
survivors of the expedition. As soon, therefore, as the relief 
ships had anchored in the shoaler water of the inner harbor, 
from which the ice had now entirely passed away, the in- 
spector and the governor came on board to welcome them 



Cape Sabine to Disko. 261 

and to offer their sympathy to Greely and his companions. 
After the inspector's visit, the natives came off to the two 
ships to hear the story from the Eskimo interpreter. 

A great change had taken place about Godhavn during 
the absence of the expedition. The ice and snow had dis- 
appeared; grass covered the soil between the rocks, and 
wild flowers were opening here and there under the genial 
influence of the summer sunshine. The ofiicers occupied 
their spare time in fishing, and large numbers of rock cod 
were caught, a fish similar to that found about the rocky 
shores of Cape Ann, in Massachusetts. The fish gave an 
additional variety to the somewhat monotonous bill of fare 
of the invalids. 

Most of the members of the party were now so much im- 
proved in health that they were able to move about the 
ship, and do very much what they liked. Elison's condition, 
however, had grown steadily worse from day to day, and it 
was now most critical. A consultation was held by the 
surgeons of the three ships, and it "was determined to ampu- 
tate his feet as the only chance of life left to the sufferer. 
The operation was performed on the 5th, immediately after 
the arrival of the Bear at Disko. His system, however, 
had become so depleted by exposure and want of food dur- 
ing the eight months, since his journey to Cape Isabella, 
that he had no strength left to fall back upon. In spite of 
the skill of the surgeons, he grew rapidly worse, and on the 
third day after the amputation, at 3.30 a.m., July 8th, he 
passed away quietly and without apparent suffering. 

In accordance with the wish of the Inspector of North 
Greenland, it was decided that the body of Christiansen 
should be buried at Disko. Preparations were accordingly 



262 The Rescue of Greely. 

made, and on the afternoon of July 7th, the body was landed 
from the Bear. There were two boats from the Bear, one 
from the Thetis, and one from the Alert. They set out 
from the Bear in line ahead, with their fl^rgs at half-mast; 
the first boat carrying the body, which had been placed in a 
coffin covered with dark blue cloth, and draped with the 
red, white, and blue of the national flag. As the boats 
left the Bear, the colors were half-masted on all the ships, 
and immediately after, those on the flagstaff of the settle- 
ment, while minute-guns were fired from the little battery. 
The boats were met at the landing by the Inspector and the 
Governor, and the body was taken upon the shoulders of six 
seamen, and followed by the Greenland officials and by 
twenty-five officers and men from the squadron. The min- 
ute-guns continued firing as the funeral procession wound 
its way up the hill to the little chapel of Disko. At the 
door of the chapel the Inspector received the body, and ad- 
dressed it with a few words of singular simplicity and 
pathos. Turning to the dead man, he said in English : 

" As head of the Danish Government in North Greenland, I have re- 
ceived your hody, and in the name of all the Danish and Greenland peo- 
ple I will say you farewell ! Your last master, Lieutenant Greely, has 
said you were a good and a brave man ; he has promised me to send for 
your tomb a monument as a sign for your countrymen that lie will never 
forget your service nor will he ever forget the poor Eskimo from Uperni- 
vik, who has lived and suffered as a comrade with the United States 
friends. We will all follow you to your last resting-place, and beg God 
to save your soul and give consolation to your poor family." 

By this time the chapel was filled with men, women, and 
children, all of whom, notwithstanding their stolid E.skimo 
temperament, seemed to be overcome with grief, which was 
all the more singular as Christiansen was not a Disko man, 



Cape Sabine to Dislco. 263 

and none of the people about Godhavn had ever seen him. 
The services began with a hymn, which was sung by 
Madame Tbygussen, the native wife of a deceased Danish 
official, after which the minister, also an Eskimo, delivered 
a funeral address in the native language. The quaintness 
and simple beauty of this funeral discourse make it well 
worthy of reproduction here.* The pastor said : 

' ' What man is he that liveth and shall not see death ? Shall he deliver 
his soul from the hand of the grave ? 

"Thus questioned David as he prayed to the Lord his Creator and 
Benefactor for help, and we also who this day behold death pass near us 
must question in like manner ; for no man will escape from the hand of 
death, and numberless are they who each day, over the whole world, 
lose their dear ones and mourn their loss ; and thus it will continue to 
the end of the world. So it is for Danes, Americans, and Greenlanders ; 
all shall see death, and all will mourn for the dear ones who are taken 
from us to be laid in the ground. Sorrow has taken up her abode here, and 
there are many who mourn. As of old in Egypt, there is no house 
which has not been visited by the angel of death, and overwhelmed with 
sorrow ; no heart but has seen the visit and felt the horror of death. 
When we therefore to-day carry to his last resting place, this our brother, 
who was a stranger, and whose face we did not know, we shall think of 
the friends he leaves behind, who mourn his loss and who would wish to 
be with us at the grave to greet their beloved one for the last time. 

" Xo man knows the thought of God concerning us. He whose soul- 
less body we to-day are to bury, and the other, his companion, who per- 
ished in a kayak in the northern regions, did not think their days wore 
numbered when they took leave of the wives they loved and of the chil- 
dren who were to be their support in their old age. They thought they 
would be better able to support their families when they returned, and 
they begged them to pray for a happy meeting. But they were never to 
be made happy by seeing each other's faces. 

" The dear ones whom they left behind hoped for everything good 
when the ship returned, and were happy ; but when she lay at anchor 
the hope of their lives was extinguished as they heard that those for 
whom they had so long and so sincerely been longing had perished. We 



* The English translation is made from a Danish version written by 
Madame Thygussen from the original Eskimo. 



264 The Rescue of Greely. 

vrill hope that they who have become so wretched may draw a Christian's 
consolation from above, and find that Jesus can soothe their sorrowful 
hearts ami heal their wounds. Now, dear friends, when death breaks 
asunder the tie between husband and wife, and between parents and chil- 
dren, we are grieved, but we as Christians have consolation in the hope 
that those who are separated by death will meet again in the heaven of 
the believers. 

" God has also brought help in this world for the dear ones these men 
have left behind, as those who were with them on the voyage will be a 
support to their families. 

" Again, we pray to God that He will assist these strangers in the far 
country to whom the angel of death has also come. 

" Peace be with their dust. 

" In the name of Jesus, Amen." 

When the sermon was ended, the procession again took 
up its line of march, followed by the natives, to the little 
graveyard half a mile away across the ravines and gullies of 
the island. The people closed around the grave, and after 
a last prayer had been offered by the minister, the body was 
laid away in its final resting-place. 

The day after the funeral of Christiansen, July 9th, was 
fixed for the departure of the squadron. During the four 
days spent in port, preparations had been made for the voy- 
age to St. John's. The engine of the Alert required repair, 
and the rudder of the Thetis had been so badly damaged 
in the ice that it was unsafe to go to sea with it. It was 
therefore unshipped, and the spare rudder which had beeu 
brought from New York was put in its place. The house car- 
ried by the Alert was transferred to the Loch Garry, and 
the Thetis took on board ninety tons of coal from the col- 
lier. All the dogs were sent ashore, four of them being 
given as a present to the Eskimo David, who was dis- 
charged at this time. 

Godhavn, like the other leading settlements on the 



Carpe Sabme to Disko. 265 

Greenland coast, is visited during the summer by a brig sent 
out from Copenhagen by the Danish Government with a mail 
and supplies. There are three of these brigs which make 
summer trips to different points. Another visits Greenland 
in the spring, arriving about April, but it goes only to Hol- 
steinborg, where it finds the single mail which has been col- 
lected in the early spring from more northerly points. 
While the relief expedition was waiting at Godhavn to sail 
for St. John's, it was learned that the supply vessel had been 
detained beyond her usual time of arrival, and the food sup- 
ply was so reduced that the Inspector was afraid that the 
settlement would be in want, before her arrival. In view of 
the uniform kindness of the Greenland officials, and of the 
substantial assistance which they had given to the ships, it 
was with no small satisfaction that the commander of the re- 
lief squadron, upon learning the state of affairs, directed the 
landing of 200 rations of bread, meat, and soups, and was 
thus enabled in a small degree to return the obligations un- 
der which the kindly Greenlanders had placed all our ex- 
peditions. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

THE RETURX HOME. 

The fleet left Godhavn at (3.30 a.m. on July 9th, for St 
John's, the Alert, whose engines were still partly disabled, 
being in tow of the Loch Garry. The day oi sailing was 
beautiful and bright, with a fresh northeasterly breeze, which 
carried the ships along at a speed of eight knots an hour. 
After clearing the harbor a signal was made directing the 
ships to take position on the quarters of the Thetis, and a 
rendezvous was designated twenty-five miles northeast of 
Cape Spear, where the ships were to wait before going into 
St. John's, if separated by gales or fogs on the passage 
down. During the first few days the weather was fair, and 
Greely and the others were on deck at intervals during eacli 
day. When there was a heavy sea, some of them were sea- 
sick, but Greely, who had suffered from sea-sickness on his 
trip north in the Proteus, escaped entirely on the journey 
home. 

On the second day out the snow-covered mountains of 
Greeuland were lost sight of, the last of them that was seen 
being the Sukkertoppen, near Holsteinborg. As the ships 
made over towards the west side. of Davis Strait, they fell 
in with large icebergs, but these were looked upon with none 
of the concern and anxiety which they had excited on the 
way up. The hundreds which had been met and often used 
for shelter in Melville Bay and Smith Sound had made them 
(266) 



The J latum Jlome. W>7 

every-day objects, and elose contact had robbed them of all 
their terrors. They were the last remnants of Arctic ice 
seen by the expedition. 

On the loth of July, when near the Funk Islands, <»\\ 
the coast of Labrador, a fresh southeast gale sprang up, 
which lasted through the night, with thick fog and heavy 
sea. The Loch Ga/rry labored so much in the sea that she 
cast off the Alert, which she had been towing all the way 
from Disko, and took a position six cables' length astern of 
the Thetis, the other ships being at three cables' distance on 
the starboard and port quarters. As the wind and sea in- 
creased, the course was changed off shore, and. the speed 
reduced to two knots, to enable the Alert to keep up. She 
gradually fell astern, however, and at 2.30 on the morning 
of the 10th, her lights were lost sight of in the thick fisj. 
When daylight broke nothing was to be seen of her. The 
other vessels stood on under low speed for the appointed 
rendezvous, but as the thick weather continued, it seemed 
to be useless to delay longer there, and the course was shaped 
for St. John's. 

The fog continued to envelop the ships as they advanced, 
shutting out the land from view. Positions could only 
be determined by dead reckoning, — a very unsatisfactory 
method in this region of uncertain currents and outlying 
dangers. As the squadron approached the mouth of St. 
John's harbor, the fog-trumpet at Cape Spear was heard, 
and the ships were kept off the land to the westward ; but 
their position was too uncertain to justify an attempt to 
enter the harbor. Fortunately, on the morning of the 17th, 
when the squadron was just abreast of the entrance, which, 
although only half a mile distant, was still invisible, the 



2G8 The Rescue of Greely. 

town-clock in St. John's was heard to strike eight, and the 
exact position of the harbor was discovered. The ships were 
headed to the west, and an hour later they had entered the 
port. The dense fog outside the headlands hid the vessels 
from view until they were actually inside and about to 
anchor. 

As soon as the relief ships were recognized from the shore 
the excitement was intense ; the city was all agog, and the 
wharves were instantly crowded with wondering people. 
The early return of the expedition was interpreted to mean 
that some result had been accomplished, but what the result 
was could not be conjectured ; and before many moments 
had passed, boats in great numbers put off to learn the 
news. It was only after a despatch had been sent home 
that this curiosity could be fully gratified. The first news 
of the result of the expedition belonged to the Navy Depart- 
ment, and arrangements had been made before going up to 
hold the cable for the official message. An officer was sent 
on shore at once with the despatch, and fifteen minutes after 
the vessels had dropped anchor, the report was on its way. 
The officer by whom it was sent carried also the first message 
from Greely to his wife. 

The telegram to Washington was as follows : 

St. John's, N. F., July 17, 1884. 
Hon. W. E. Chandler, Secretary of Navy, Washington, D. C. : 

Thetis, Bear, and Loch Garry arrived here to-day from West Green- 
land, all well, separated in gale from Alert yesterday 150 miles north. 
At 9 p.m., June 22d, five miles west of Cape Sabine in Smith Sound, 
Thetis and Bear rescued alive Lieutenant A. W. Greely, Sergeant Brain- 
ard, Sergeant Fredericks, Sergeant Long, Hospital Steward Bierderbick, 
Sergeant Elison, and Private Connell, the only survivors of the Lady 
Franklin Bay Expedition. 



The Return Home. 269 

Sergeant Elison had lost both hands and feet by frost-bite, and died at 
Godhavn July 8th, three days after amputation, which had become im- 
perative. Seventeen of the twenty-five persons composing the expedi- 
tion perished by starvation at the point where found ; one was drowned 
while sealing to procure food ; twelve bodies of the dead were recovered 
and are now on board Thetis and Bear. One Eskimo, Frederick, was 
buried at Disko in accordance with the desire of the Inspector of North 
Greenland. Five bodies buried in ice-foot near the camp were swept 
away to sea by winds and currents before my arrival and could not be 
recovered. Names of dead recovered with date of death as follows : 
Sergeant Cross, Januar} r 18, 1884 ; Frederick, Eskimo, April 5th ; Ser- 
geant Linn, April 6th ; Lieutenant Lockwood, April 9th ; Sergeant Jew- 
ell, April 12th ; Private Ellis, May 19th ; Sergeant Ralston, May 28d ; 
Private Whisler, May 24th ; Sergeant Israel, May 27th ; Lieutenant Kis- 
lingbury, June 1st ; Private Henry, June 6th ; Private Schneider, June 
18th. Names of dead buried in the ice-foot with date of death whose 
bodies were not recovered as follows : Sergeant Rice, April 9, 1884 ; Cor- 
poral Salor, June 3d ; Private Bender, June 6th ; A. A. Surgeon Pavy, 
June 6th ; Sergeant Gardiner, June 12th. Drowned by breaking through 
newly-formed ice while sealing, Jens Edwards, Eskimo, April 24th. I 
would urgently suggest that bodies now on board be placed in metallic 
cases here for safer and better transportation in a sea-way ; this appears 
to me imperative. 

Greely abandoned Fort Conger August 9, 1883, reached Baird Inlet 
September 29th following, with party all well. Abandoned all his boats 
and was adrift for thirty days on ice floe in Smith Sound. His perma- 
nent camp was established October 21, 1883, at point where he was 
found. During nine months this party had to live upon a scant allow- 
ance of food brought from Fort Conger, that cached at Payer Harbor 
and Cape Isabella by Sir George Nares in 1875, but found much dam- 
aged by lapse of time, that cached by Beebe at Cape Sabine in 1883, and 
the small amount saved from the wreck of Proteus in 1883 and landed 
by Lieutenants Garlington and Colwell on beach where Greely's party 
was found camped. When these provisions were consumed party was 
forced to live upon boiled sealskin strips from their sealskin clothing, 
lichens, and. shrimps procured in good weather when they were strong 
enough to make exertion. As 1,300 shrimps were required to fill a gill 
measure, the labor was too exhausting to depend upon them to sustain 
life entirely. 

Channel between Cape Sabine and Littleton Island did not close on 
account of violent gales all winter, so that 240 rations at latter point 



270 TJie Bescue of Greely. 

could not be reached. All Greely's records and all instruments brought 
by hira from Fort Conger are recovered and on board. 

From Hare Island to Smith Sound I had a constant and furious strug- 
gle with ice. Impassable floes and solid barriers were overcome by 
watchfulness and patience; no opportunity to advance a mile escaped 
me, and for several hundred miles ships were forced to ram their way 
from lead to lead through ice ranging in thickness from three to seven 
feet, and where rafted much greater. 

Thetia and Bear reached Cape York June 18th, after passage of twenty 
days in Melville Bay, with two advance ships of the Dundee whaling 
fleet, and continued to Cape Sabine. Returning seven days later fell in 
Avith seven others of the fleet off Wolstenholme Island, and announced 
Greely's rescue to them, that they might not be delayed from their fish- 
ing grounds, nor be tempted into the dangers of Smith Sound in view of 
the reward of $25,000 offered by Congress. 

Returning across Melville Bay fell in with Alert and Loch Garry off 
Devil's Thumb struggling through heavy ice. Commander Coffin did 
admirably to get along so far with transport so early in the season before 
an opening had occurred. Lieutenant Emory with the Bear has sup- 
ported me throughout with great skillfulness and unflinching readiness 
in accomplishing the great duty of relieving Greely. I would ask in- 
structions about Loch Garry, as the charter party held by her master 
differs in several important particulars from mine. 

Greely party are much improved in health since rescue, but condition 
was critical in extreme when found and for some days after. Forty- 
eight hours' delay in reaching them would have been fatal to all now 
living. Season north is late and closest for years ; Kane Sea was not 
open Avhen I left Cape Sabine. Winter about Melville Bay most severe 
for thirty years. 

This great result is entirely due to the prompt action and unwearied 
energy of yourself and Secretary of War in fitting this expedition for 
the work it has had the honor to accomplish. 

W. S. Schley, Commander. 

The Secretary of the Navy was at this time at "West Point, 
from which place he telegraphed on the same day the follow- 
ing answer : 

July 17, 1884. 
Commander W. S. Schley : 

Receive my congratulations and thanks for yourself and your whole 
command for your prudence, perseverance, and courage in reaching 



The Return Home. 271 

our dead and dying countrymen. The hearts of the American people 
go out with great affection to Lieutenant Greely and the few survivors 
of his deadly peril. Care for them unremittingly, and bid them be 
cheerful and hopeful on account of what life yet has in store for them. 
Preserve tenderly the remains of the heroic dead ; prepare them accord- 
ing to your judgment, and bring them home. 

William E. Chandler, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

All through the morning and afternoon of the day on 
which the ships arrived, they were visited by throngs of 
people anxious to hear the story of the rescue as told by 
those who had participated in it. Persevering but well- 
meant efforts were made to obtain interviews with the sur- 
vivors of the expedition, but the mere excitement of arrival 
was enough, without the trying ordeal of answering ques- 
tions, and sympathetic curiosity was obliged to content it- 
self with a sight of the rescued explorers. During the after- 
noon Lieutenant Greely went on shore to try his muscles 
after their long disuse, but his halting gait and weary look 
after a walk of a block or two made it clear that his strength 
had not yet come back. Of course he was a marked man 
in the streets of St. John's, and he was soon obliged to re- 
treat to the ship to escape the too expressive sympathy of 
the kind Newfoundlanders. 

The Alert came in on the evening of the 18th, having de- 
layed her arrival by standing off and on in the vicinity of 
the appointed rendezvous, near Cape Spear, in obedience to 
orders, hoping to meet the other ships when the weather 
cleared. After waiting a day, the fog lifted, and as nothing 
could be seen of the other ships, Commander Coffin bore up 
for St. John's, feeling sure that they had already arrived. 

The squadron was detained for a week at St. John's, and 






272 The Rescue of Greely. 

this little period- of relaxation was thoroughly enjoyed by 
the officers and men of the expedition after the hard work 
and anxiety of the voyage. Sir John Glover, the Governor 
of Newfoundland, and Lady Glover were unremitting in 
their courtesies, and their hospitality, as well as that of the 
officials and of the principal residents of St. John's, seemed 
to know no limit. Indeed it was impossible during the 
week to find time to accept all the attentions that were 
lavished upon the officers. The Consul, Mr. Molloy, whose 
services had been in frequent demand for three years on ac- 
count of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, gave the sur- 
vivors a warm welcome, and took Greely under his hospit- 
able roof. The crews of the three vessels were given plenty 
of opportunities for a run ashore, and contrary to the usual 
habit of blue-jackets, they did not abuse the privilege, while 
they came in for a large share of the colonial hospitalities. 

As the Thetis and the Bear could not be used for a 
pleasure-party, however informal, it was decided, by waj 7 of 
returning the kindness and cordiality of the people of St. 
John's, to receive them quietly on board the Alert, on the 
2-ith. The guests came off in the morning, and were wel- 
comed on board by all the officers of the squadron who 
could be spared from their work. Two or three hours were 
passed quietly and pleasantly in looking over the ship, in 
talking, and at lunch in the ward-room. There was no cere- 
mony, and there was a genuine pleasure in playing the host 
after all that had been done for the officers on shore. 

On the 25th a despatch was received from the Secretary 
of the Navy, then at Portsmouth, N. IT., asking on what 
morning the ships might be expected to enter Portsmouth 
Harbor. As the metallic cases which had been ordered for 



The Return Home. 273 

the bodies were completed on this day, everything was in 
readiness for departure, and a reply was sent designating the 
2d of August as the probable date. 

At ten a.m. on the 26th the squadron left St. John's for 
Portsmouth. It was escorted out of the harbor by a fleet of 
tug-boats and launches, crowded with people, who had come 
off to have a last look at the ships. . When they had got 
well out to Cape Spear, the steamboats passed around the 
ships in succession, saluting with their whistles, and the 
people on board giving a farewell cheer. 

Leaving their escort behind, the relief ships continued on 
their course, rounding Cape Race in a fresh sou'westerly 
breeze and a chopping sea, and headed for Portsmouth. 
The passage down was uneventful. The weather was fine 
in spite of occasional fogs, but the invalids suffered some- 
what from the dampness and the summer heat, which pro- 
duced a temporary prostration. Except for this, and for 
their aching joints and muscles, they were all fairly conva- 
lescent. By the end of the voyage Greely had recovered his 
normal weight — at least his weight when he left Fort Con- 
ger — having gained fifty pounds in six weeks. 

It was intended to reach Portsmouth on the 2d of Au- 
gust, but the winds which are commonly at that season from 
the westward changed to the east, and the ships were carried 
along under sail almost without help from the engines. This 
gained them a day, and brought them in before the date that 
had been assigned. As they neared the coast, on the 31st of 
July, a dense fog settled down, and speed was somewhat re- 
duced in consequence, although the soundings gave a sure 
indication of correct position. At daylight on August 1st 
the fog lifted and the lighthouse on the Isle of Shoals was 
18 



274: Tlie Rescue of Greely. 

sighted about ten miles off. Standing on towards Portsmouth 
as the day advanced the squadron discovered several ships of 
war in the lower harbor, and presently the Alliance came out 
to meet it and delivered orders from Acting Bear-Admiral 
Luce, the Commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squad- 
ron, to delay arrival until August 2d, which had been fixed 
as the day on which the expedition was to be formally re- 
ceived. The relief ships accordingly steamed to the north- 
ward and anchored near Boon Island Light. 

Considering, however, that the friends of all on board the 
vessels, including the rescued party, were waiting on shore 
to greet them, it would have been little less than cruel to 
have kept the squadron out any longer. The programme 
was therefore sacrificed ; the order to delay entering was 
revoked, and the Thetis, JBear, and Alert once more got 
under way and headed for the harbor. 

The reception which greeted the squadron at Portsmouth 
was an ovation which took its officers and men wholly by 
surprise. The North Atlantic Squadron was lying in the 
lower harbor, composed of the flag-ship Tennessee and the 
Vandalia, Swatara, Yantic and Alliance. Two ships of 
the training squadron, the Portsmouth and Jamestown, 
were also present, and the practice ships from Annapolis, the 
Constellation and Dale, were lying at the Navy Yard. The 
Secretary of the Navy and the Chief Signal Officer of the 
Army had come down to Portsmouth to give an official 
welcome, and the friends of the members of both expedi- 
tions had been sent for. The shores of the river, on both 
sides, were lined with people, and the harbor was filled with 
steamers, sailboats, and small craft of every description, all 
of thein dressed with flairs and streamers. 



The Return Home. 275 

At two o'clock on the afternoon of a beautiful August 
day the Thetis, Bear, and Alert, led by the Alliance, steamed 
into the harbor. As they passed the ships of war in succes- 
sion, the crews of the latter swarmed in the rigging. As 
the relief ships came to anchor the band of the flag-ship 
played "Home Again," and the crews in the rigging gave 
them cheer upon cheer which was caught up and carried 
along the shore. At the same moment, the Secretary's barge 
left the flag-ship with Mrs. Greely, who was the first person 
to come on board the Thetis. Poor Greely was waiting for 
her in the cabin, and there the first meeting took place. 

Immediately after, the officers of the relief squadron went 
on board the Tennessee, where they were received by the 
Secretary and the Admiral with an uncommonly hearty 
greeting. Later in the afternoon the Secretary, accompanied 
by Admiral Luce and General Hazen, went on board the 
relief ships to welcome Greely and to give their congratula- 
tions to the officers and men on the decks of their own 
vessels. 

During the next three days the relief ships were the 
centre of interest, and filled with visitors from morning till 
night. On Monday, the 4th, the city of Portsmouth gave 
a civic reception to the rescued party and to the officers and 
men of the relief squadron. It was another warm ovation. 
In fact, the expedition was in danger of being overwhelmed 
with the heartiness of its welcome. The survivors, fortunate- 
ly, had been transferred to quarters at the Navy Yard, where 
they were free from intrusion, and they were carefully 
looked after by the physicians, who prevented them from 
being killed with kindness. At the civic reception, they sat 
for an hour on the grand stand, and watched the procession, 



276 The Rescue of Greely. 

but after that they were quietly taken back to the Yard. It 
was just as well for them, as the transition from Camp Clay 
to Portsmouth on the 4th of August would have been a 
severe strain to the toughest nerves. What with the pro- 
cessions, and brass bands, and citizen soldiery, and blue- 
jackets, and distinguished visitors, the rural streets of the 
staid old New Hampshire town were transformed beyond 
all recognition. 

The relief squadron was ordered to sail for New York on 
August 5th. Early in the morning of that day, the body 
of Sergeant Jewell, a New Hampshire man, was landed in 
compliance with the wish of his friends. The body was 
taken to the Navy Yard, and carried to the slope just above 
the wharf. A little group, composed of the Secretary, the 
friends of the dead man, and a few of the officers, gathered 
around while the burial service was read in the open air. 
The body was then taken over to the city in the steam tug, 
and put on board the train at the station. 

At the same hour, the relief ships sailed for New York. 
After a slow passage, they arrived on the morning of 
the 8th, and were saluted with twenty-one guns from Fort 
Columbus. The batteries of the 4th and 5th Artillery 
were drawn up on the wharf at Governor's Island, to receive 
the dead. There were also present the Secretary of War, 
General Sheridan, General Hancock, General Hazen, Com- 
modore Fillebrown, and other officers of high rank. The 
bodies were transferred soon after arrival to the steam 
tug Cataljia, belonging to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a 
little before one o'clock the Catalpa steamed up to the dock, 
while minute-guns were fired from the shore. The com- 
mander of the expedition went on shore, and formally de- 



The Return Home. 277 

livered the bodies to General Hancock, representing the 
War Department. They were placed on artillery caissons, 
and taken to the chapel, the long line of troops drawn up 
along the wharf presenting arms to each body as it passed. 
At the chapel, all but two were delivered to the friends of 
the deceased. These two — those of Privates Henry and 
Schneider — were taken to the Cypress Hills National Ceme- 
tery, where the former was buried. The body of Schneider 
was afterwards placed on board the steamer fflns, for trans- 
portation to his friends in Germany. Immediately after the 
ceremony, the instruments, relics, and all other property 
found at Camp Clay and in the cache on Stalknecht Island 
were delivered to the Post Quartermaster. 

The relief squadron had now performed its last duty to 
the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, and its work was 
finished. The ships proceeded directly to the Navy Yard 
at Brooklyn, where they were shortly after laid up. The 
officers were detached, and the greater part of the crews 
were discharged. 

The work done by the Relief Expedition of 1884, whether 
little or much, may be judged by the light of the record. 
But no account of it in which the Commander of the Expe- 
dition has a hand would be complete without a statement on 
his part of the gallant and efficient service done by the offi- 
cers and men of the three relief ships who served under his 
command, not only in their untiring and unhesitating zeal 
in meeting the ordinary calls of duty, but in their hearty co- 
operation at all times with the efforts of their commander, 
and in their loyalty and devotion to the purposes which the 
expedition had in view. 

THE END. 



-^K 



"^ 



(^•-vC.Chvul!eiAri 



TRACK CHART. PL. 




TRACK CHART. PL. ITT. 




vil 

( 



£ 



' \ 



% 



T* 




NORTH AMERICA 



LAR REGIO 



^toLIN< 



the most recent dis 

Including those of 
'edition in 1871-2 unde I 
edition in 1875-6 under j 
ditionin 1881-4 under '. 

SOUNDINGS IN FATHOMS 
HEIGHTS IN FEET 



S96"°N 



m\\ gam nmg ^iii'n \nmiiii jiuinn ynnii\ 



,92 










V ° Poo*. 



wmw*. 



